The Electoral College is an interesting subject about which I feel many people do not understand. We believe we elect the President on Election Day in November. While there is much hype about the election and the results, the actual election of the President comes through the votes by the Electoral College. Though the news organizations talk about the Electoral College during the results it is not put in perspective so the public understands. The Electoral College made sense in the beginning of our country but I feel it has lost much of its relevancy. This article will explain why I feel this way and what changes should be made.
The votes assigned to each state amount to one for each representative and the two senators. While this brings some organization to the process those states with large populations get more Electoral College votes than those with less population. This decreases the importance of the votes in each of these states. There needs to be some consistency, which provides equal importance to all states. Candidates sometimes concentrate on those states with the highest electoral votes so they achieve the required number to be President.
At the beginning of our country, there was no easy way for people to learn about the candidates running for President and the Electoral College was established to make the decision. There needs to be some changes in this process. The American people have a right to have a greater impact from all states not just those with higher Electoral College votes. While some may say that this would be unfair to states with higher population, I say that each state deserves equal representation in the Presidential election process.
This can be accomplished in two ways. The first is to assign an equal number of Electoral College votes to each state. This will create a situation where each state has an equal degree of importance in each Presidential election. The other option is for the states to award or assign delegates based on the percentage of votes the candidates receive during the election. This will again allow an equal chance for the candidates to win the quantity of votes to be elected. Today with the large assignment of votes based on the number of senators and representatives the more a state has increases the importance of winning that state. This is wrong.
Prior to Election Day there is another aspect which has a bearing on which candidate wins the nomination for their party. There are states that award delegates to each of the party convention based upon the percentage of votes received by the candidates. This is the way it should be. Voters are disenfranchised when they feel their voices are not heard. When a state assigns delegates based on the percentage of votes received, every vote has a stake in who will be the candidate for each party.
Our election process in this country is great but since it was created, our country has changed enormously with today's technological world. Information is more readily available with the Internet and the current system needs to reflect this change. I am not saying that our system is bad only that it needs to be updated to present times. While it may be a big task, I feel that each of the states that do not already award delegates and Electoral College votes based on voting percentages should make changes in their system. We as a country was all votes to count and with the current mechanism this is not occurring in the way delegates and votes are awarded. It makes more sense for states to have an equal degree of importance in the election process.
The changes I am suggesting are only for the Presidential election process as this is the only one where the changes I have suggested apply. The American people have a right to have their votes counted with equal importance and not be overshadowed by states with larger Electoral College votes. In terms of delegates and the quantities needed to win the nomination for each party, I am confused as to how the delegate quantities are determined. This applies for not only the delegates needed to win the nomination but also the quantity determined to be won in each state.
In summary, the American voter deserves to have their votes properly counted and given equal importance regardless of which state they live in and are qualified to vote. Presently the way the delegates are assigned and the Electoral College votes awarded this does not occur. We need to change both of these aspects of our election cycle to bring this about. While consistency may not be easily attained at the national level, the states need to take steps to incorporate these suggestions. The main point to realize is that changing the way states assign delegates and Electoral College votes will affect the Presidential election even if other states do not do so. States who make changes in their process for delegates and Electoral College votes can be a leader for the change. This change will benefit all their residents by making their voices heard with greater importance.
.