The electoral college must be abolished. Despite this system being a part of America’s election process since its inception, it is not an accurate nor fair measure of the population’s opinions. According to Britannica’s article “Electoral College Pros and Cons,” the electoral college was established in 1788 as a way to make sure that farmer’s votes would power in elections, and that the outcomes would not only be determined by the most populous states. Today though, the country is much different. Those who oppose abolishing the system to a popular vote (where the president is decided based upon who won the most votes in the country as a whole), argue that then candidates would only focus on the largest cities to win. But according to the video “The Trouble with the Electoral College”, by CGP Grey, the top ten most populous cities will only make up 7.9% of the popular vote, meaning that they definitely will not be the sole determining factor in an election. This shows that under a popular vote system, candidates must campaign for all Americans in all sects of the nation. Opponents may argue that this is how it is now, but the data shows otherwise. Grey’s video provides data that shows how candidates focus more than half of their campaign efforts only on a select selection of swing states that determine the election, meaning that the majority of American citizens will never have a chance to see a candidate visit their state. Finally, the system simply is not perfect, and in some instances, does not work. There have been five elections where the electoral college did not represent the majority of citizen’s opinions (2016, 2000, 1888, 1876, and 1824). This means that there is a 7% chance (and counting) that the electoral college will not represent the country’s opinion, while the popular vote will have a 100% chance because it is solely based on the country’s opinion.
