national popular vote plan pros and cons

The selection of presidential electors is specifically entrusted to the states by the Constitution. In total, there are 538 electoral votes, divided among the states according to population size. Today, opinions on the future of the Electoral College range from protecting it as the basis of American democracy to abolishing it completely as an ineffective and obsolete system that may not accurately reflect the will of the people. Donald Trump won the presidential election by securing 304 electoral votes, compared to Hillary Clinton's 227 electoral votes. To avoid another election that differs from . More people live in urban regions, which means they would have a constant sway over the election. ThoughtCo. Battleground states would disappear in U.S. elections. All other elections in the U.S. are through the popular vote. Around six-in-ten U.S. adults (63%) say the way the president is elected should be changed so that the winner of the popular vote nationwide wins the presidency, while 35% favor keeping the current Electoral College system, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 27-July 4, 2022. Other presidents who lost the popular vote but won the presidency include John Quincy Adams and Rutherford B. Hayes in the elections of 1824 and 1876. When you cast your ballot, you're not actually voting directly for your favored presidential candidate. Watch out! By continuing well assume youre on board with our, https://samploon.com/electoral-college-and-national-popular-vote-pros-and-cons/, Select a writer from a large pool of experts. Only Nebraska and Maine do not. This brings us to 196 of the 270 electoral votes needed to activate the pact. The popular vote eliminates this issue too. Not only it already happened five times, but in theory, a candidate could win the presidency with only 22% of the popular vote in a two-candidates race. You can use essay samples to find ideas and inspiration for your paper. Under the Electoral College system, voters in states that are overwhelmingly in support of one candidate might feel like their vote is unimportant. Each states electoral votes are tallied by Congress in the House chamber by House and Senate representatives on the 6th day of January following the Presidential election. In the 2020 election California did not certify their votes until Friday, December 11, only 3 days before the Electoral College met on Monday, December, 14. Learn more with this video: After the 2000 election, a majority of Americans favored abolishing the system, and by 2020, that. This outdated institution creates unnecessary . The pros and cons of the popular vote structure of an election allow for the majority to have their say in who they wish to serve. Analyze and debate the pros and cons of the Electoral College system. The total number of electoral votes assigned to each state varies depending on population, but each state has at least three, and the District of Columbia has had three electors since 1961. Although moving to a popular vote election would balance the weight of each vote, it would also create more sway in larger population states. NCSL conducts policy research in areas ranging from agriculture and budget and tax issues to education and health care to immigration and transportation. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz often split about 60% of the GOP vote, which allowed Donald Trump to win early primaries with 35% of the vote. The New York Times called the last two states on its map on Nov. 13: Georgias 16 electoral votes for Mr. Biden and North Carolinas 15 for Mr. Trump. In contrast, other issues related to the federal government are not exclusively entrusted to the states, and therefore the states lack the power to alter them. The official 2016 election results from the Electoral College gave Donald J. Trump the victory with 306 electoral votes v. Hillary Clinton's 232 votes. The Electoral College system was established by Article II of the U.S. Constitution in 1788. cons of the national popular vote planproperty management without a license in texas aot 4, 2022 12:34 . The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors and a majority of 270 electoral votes is mandatory to nominate the President. Because of how the system is set up, it is possible for one candidate to win the popular vote and another to win the electoral vote. BY . Others may struggle to meet higher than expected voter turnout levels. Prevents disputed outcomes ensuring a peaceful transition of power. Security would be improved across the country. NCSL's experts are here to answer your questions and give you unbiased, comprehensive information as soon as you need it on issues facing state legislatures. In 2016, Florida had 29 electoral votes and 9.4 million voters, created a voter value of 0.72. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. However, there are proposals to reform the Electoral College without abolishing it. ; Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. It could encourage voter turnout. The important number is 270. on WordPress.com. Prevents disputed outcomes ensuring a peaceful transition of power Reduces the costs of national presidential campaigns. NAPA Net Staff. It only takes five people with life tenure to actually amend this Constitution through a judicial opinion, she said. Every state is allocated several votes according to the number of senators and representatives in its U.S. Congressional delegation. The first advantage allows for electoral votes to be fairer than the Electoral College (Richards). Pro: It's the only way to avoid defaulting. Would you like to get a custom essay? The same thing happened in 2000. However, many people believe that a direct popular election is more democratic and fair than the Electoral College. 5 terms. Surprisingly enough, the National Popular Vote bill could possibly bring forth some problems. Disadvantages of the NPV Interstate Compact. Some areas may bend the rules of an election by extending voting hours illegally. After the process, the President of the Senate reveals who has officially been voted in as President and Vice President of the United States. Hence, the National Popular Vote plan is an interstate compact a type of state law authorized by the U.S. Constitution that enables states to enter into a legally enforceable, contractual obligation to undertake agreed joint actions, which may be delayed in implementation until a requisite number of states join in. Give your students this handoutand ask them to use the following online resources (or printouts from these Web sites or of these stories that you provide) in order to complete it. Explain that each state and the District of Columbia are given a share of the electoral vote based on population. Currently, candidates focus more on swing and battleground states to help them gain those electoral votes. 2. As an alternative to the long and unlikely method amending the Constitution, critics of the Electoral College are now perusing the National Popular Vote plan designed to ensure that the candidate who wins the overall popular vote in inaugurated president. The Electoral College system, long a source of controversy, came under especially heavy criticism after the 2016 presidential election when Republican Donald Trump lost the nationwide popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by over 2.8 million votes but won the Electoral Collegeand thus the presidencyby 74 electoral votes. There was a lot of confusion over how Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016. 805 15th Street, NW, Suite 800 Another movement is attempting to convince states to split their electoral vote based on the percentage of the states popular vote for each candidate. Anyone can read what you share. Rescue crews are fighting rugged terrain in Great Smoky Mountains National Park as search efforts for a missing man remain ongoing. Under the electoral college system (and other voting systems not based on popular voting), it only takes one extra vote more than the other candidate to create the needed results for the election. On Dec. 14, as electors gathered across the country to cast their ballots, Joseph R. Biden Jr. had earned 306 electoral votes, 36 more than needed to win. The United States has a representative democracy rather than a direct democracy: Citizens elect representatives rather than voting on each bill. The bill has crossed paths with 36 legislative chambers and has been sponsored or voted for by 3,112 state legislators (National Popular Vote). Regional candidates could secure enough votes to win a national election. Unexpected emergencies would be difficult to handle. In addition, while the Founders considered the electors as being free from any sinister bias in 1788, electors today are selected by the political parties and are usually pledged to vote for the partys candidate regardless of their own beliefs. The state legislatures of the cooperating states would . It could help to reduce partisanship. The Electoral College was born at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. If the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact becomes law it would be an excellent first step to help get a future amendment to the Constitution to replace the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system to elect the president with a national popular vote using Ranked Choice Voting. These are the states that may go to either major party candidate in the election. The winner would receive all of the compact states electoral votes, giving them at least the necessary 270 to win the White House. The National Popular Vote effort is now halfway to its goal of electing future presidents via the popular vote, after Rhode Island . The obvious reason to keep raising the debt ceiling is that it avoids defaulting on the nation's debts. 6. Gallup reports 61 percent of Americans support abolishing the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote. What are some of the main advantages and disadvantages of the Electoral College? Individual states agree to pledge their electors to the winner of the national popular vote, provided that enough other states follow suit. Elections Webinar 1 2 3 . 7. In 2016, Gary Johnson received 4.48 million votes and 0 electoral votes, but the potential is always there for this to happen. 4. They voted for a variety of candidates not on the ballot: Bernie Sanders, Colin Powell and Ron Paul, among others. Some scholars have said they do not wholeheartedly agree with the decision, arguing that it endangers an electors freedom to make decisions they want and that electors are usually picked for their loyalty to a candidate or party. It was a great idea in 1787 but the country has changed since 1787 and the people today want to elect the president by a simple, direct popular vote where whoever gets the most votes wins like we do in every other election in the country. I will explain that in another blog post. If some of the 50 states and DC cannot certify their popular votes by the December deadline that could create a constitutional crisis where we would not have all of the state Electoral College votes certified by the time the Electoral College is required to vote according to the Constitution. Richards earned a master's degree at Carnegie Mellon University. . It would eliminate the threat of a faithless elector. Students share their findings. The first problem it creates is the opportunity for the loser of the popular vote to win the electoral vote. But in practice it could happen every 10 or 20 years when the Electoral College votes change because the congressional boundaries change with the new population census. President Trump had earned 232 electoral . The winner of the states popular vote gets two electoral votes, and one vote is awarded to the winner of the popular vote in each congressional district. In 2016, for instance, Democrat Hillary Clinton received nearly 2.9 million more votes than Trump in the presidential election, after racking up more lopsided wins in big states like New York and California. The National Popular Vote plan would eliminate what critics of the Electoral College system point to as the "winner-take-all" rule - the awarding all of a state's electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in that state. Honorable Steve Cohen; Adam . The Founding Fathers chose it as a compromise between allowing Congress to choose the president and having the president elected directly by the popular vote of the people. Electors are chosen every four years in the months leading up to Election Day by their respective states political parties. When Americans cast their ballots, they are actually voting for a slate of electors appointed by their states political parties who are pledged to support that partys candidate. Bring about direct popular election of pres and do within change. On average, studies show that falls in line with historical averages showing around 60 percent of eligible voters casting a vote in presidential election years. What can your students conclude? In U.S. history, the electoral college winner has failed to secure the popular vote 5 times. Ask your students what they remember about the 2016 election. That effectively means that votes in the the 75% of the country that are in swing states effectively dont count at all. Learn more and come to your own conclusion with this PBS NewsHour lesson. Cons of Electoral College. (LogOut/ The country thinks we are going to elect the president using the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system tans and then four months before the election we change to the National Popular Vote Compact system and elect the president by whoever gets the most popular votes. Following the unprecedented and volatile 2020 presidential race when the popular vote winner was clear on Election Night, but final results still took days it's never been more clear that the Electoral College needs a major overhaul. Gives too few states too much electoral power. Unless the national popular vote was very close, or there were all lot of recounts outstanding, the Compact states in most cases would effectively know what the outcome would be and could be prepared to certify their state votes very quickly to make the Electoral College meeting date deadline. "Pros and cons of the Electoral College it said this about what supporters think about the electoral college "Naturally . Lastly, the biggest problem that the Electoral College produces is the reality that a persons vote really doesnt matter (Black). Sets found in the same folder. Despite the name, it is not a college in the modern educational sense, but refers to a collegium or group of colleagues. On Dec. 14, as electors gathered across the country to cast their ballots, Joseph R. Biden Jr. had earned 306 electoral votes, 36 more than needed to win. The Electoral College was devised at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. National Archives:U.S. 2. Because its so hard to get an amendment to the Constitution passed that means that once it becomes law it will probably remain so for a long time because the bar to change it back is so high. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/electoral-college-pros-and-cons-4686409. 2023 by National Conference of State Legislatures, NCSL 50-State Searchable Bill Tracking Databases, Supreme Court to Reexamine Use of Civil Asset Forfeiture. It has also happened four times out of the 56 presidential elections. That means the cost of counting all the votes would be duplicated. Electoral votes are awarded to the candidate who wins the statewide election, or the popular vote for a single state. But theres a separate movement that calls for a compact of states to allocate all their electoral votes to the national popular vote winner, regardless of how those individual states opted in an election. 27 Major Pros & Cons Of The Electoral College " The Electoral College needs to go, because it's made our society less and less democratic." Pete Buttigieg, Politician Advantages & Disadvantages of the Electoral College The Electoral College is an organ that elects the president of the United States. But with the NPV Compact a change in party control of just one or two states could restore the old system of electing the president and then four years later it could be changed back. The proportional plan retains electoral votes, but awards the votes in each state based on the percentage of votes received in each state (regardless of the districts from which the voters come) by the competing . In the U.S., that means people who lean Democratic live in urban areas, while people who lean Republican live in rural areas. Texas has 38. First, have students meet in small groups to discuss and debate. Once effective, states could withdraw from the compact at any time except during the six-month window between July 20 of an election year and Inauguration Day (January 20). The framers enacted the provisions relating to the Electoral College to allow for state innovation. The idea has public support, but faces a partisan divide, since Republicans currently benefit from the electoral clout of less populous, rural states. For the 7 presidential elections between 1992-2016, the Republican candidate has won the Electoral college 3 times. All in all, the Electoral College causes many problems that seem unfair to American voters during such an important election. Under the current structure of presidential elections in the U.S., the states become a battleground of red states vs. blue states. There would be fewer opportunities to illegally alter the results of an election. Two exceptions are Maine and Nebraska, which rely on congressional districts to divvy up electoral votes. If the National Popular Vote bill was secured within the American government, it would protect every vote and would allow those votes to equally matter in the presidential election. The Electoral College system has been a topic of debate for many years. The group as a whole should help that student to prepare his or her argument. For instance, if you have a score of 659 and are borrowing 75% of the home's value, you'll pay a fee equal to 1.5% of the loan balance whereas you'd pay no fee if you had a 780+ credit score. The Supreme Court has said in local and state elections voting should be based on the principle of one person one vote. Then, election officials in all participating states would choose the electors sworn to support thepresidential candidate who received the largest number of popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Learn more about how the National Popular Vote compact works and the ways it could make our elections better for everyone. In theory we could change how we elect our president every four years. One of the main critiques of the Electoral College is that because 48 states choose to allocate electoral votes on a winner-take-all basis (the College is established by the Constitution, but the . President Trump had earned 232 electoral votes. Students may work individually or in small groups. Since 2008, 15 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws to adopt the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC), which is an multi-state agreement to commit electors to. That means every state is allowed a minimum of 3 electoral votes. And thats not how it should be in a democracy. https://www.nytimes.com/article/the-electoral-college.html. There would be a reduced need to build coalitions. The last amendment, the 27th Amendment to the Constitution, was ratified nearly 200 years after it was originally proposed. Candidates feel these states need a little bit more of their attention and apply pressure to supply these states with solutions to their problems in order to gain their vote. Moving to the popular vote structure would eliminate this potential issue. In the 2016 election, only 58 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. It happened once, in 1876. Before the 2016 election, the largest vote deficit in the popular vote was Al Gore securing over 500,000 votes more than George W. Bush. For years there have been debates about abolishing the Electoral College entirely, with the 2016 election bringing the debate back to the surface. Under the electoral college system, the candidates which receive the most votes in each state (or district) receive its assigned electoral votes. Discuss. April 23, 2023. . National popular vote plan. We answer more than 20,000 requests for information a year. 6. The election is held every four years on the first Tuesday in November and prior to election day, the two candidates endure state-level primaries, caucuses, debates, and conventions. After students have completed their handouts, have them debate the pros and cons of the Electoral College. What surprised them? More attention is given to the swing states, such as Florida and Iowa, which causes the third problem the Electoral College can cause. This new series from the AP is dedicated to answering commonly asked questions from our audience about the 2020 U.S. presidential election. They will do as promised if the candidates do a very good job vetting them and picking people who are rock-solid, Professor Amar said. Americans are still bent up and flustered on how an individual could lose the popular vote, but still, be given the upper hand in Electoral College votes. Read the overview below to gain an understanding of the process and explore the previews of opinion articles that highlight diverging views on this voting system. boyd's article "electoral college system challenged" proves that the system is outdated and misrepresents the national popular will. When you talk about the Electoral College shaping the election, it shapes the election all the time because it puts the focus on certain states and not others, said Alexander Keyssar, a professor of history and social policy at Harvard University. And finally, the Electoral College doesnt work today anywhere near how the Founding Fathers intended it to work when they created it back in 1787. Weve already seen this issue take place with the GOP primaries in 2016. This hybrid system means that more weight is given to a single vote in a small state than the vote of someone in a large state, leading to outcomes at times that have been at odds with the popular vote. As the National Popular Vote (NPV) movement steps up its effort to impose a direct election for president, attempting to enlist states with a sufficient number of electors to constitute a majority (268) and to bind them to the winner of the national popular vote, those states considering the proposal might first reflect on the nightmare .

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