We should abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a popular vote as the deciding factor of an election. The Electoral College, or our current way of deciding presidential elections, is a process where voters elect a group of electors to vote for the presidential candidate. The Electoral College was established in the Constitution to make sure states with larger populations did not overshadow the states with smaller populations. There are 538 electors, accounting for the State representatives based on population, 2 Senate representatives, and three representatives from DC. The political parties nominate electors at their National Convention that then cast a vote for the president. The candidate with the most electoral college votes will then become president, despite the popular vote. In the past 24 years, there have been two Electoral College and popular vote discrepancies where the popular vote and electoral vote did not align, as seen in Bush and Gore in 2000 and Clinton and Trump in 2016. I think that this should not happen, and the Electoral College is an outdated method that no longer aligns with our system. As a democratic nation, I think the candidate should be elected through the popular vote.
Having the popular vote as the deciding vote would make the population feel more inclined to vote, as their vote holds more weight. Many people in either a blue or red-dominated state that have differing views may not go out to vote, as they know regardless, their vote would not be represented because of the electoral college system. The popular vote truly elects who the people want as their president. The electoral college creates more of a diverge between the people and the government, which is counter-intuitive to the ideals of our nation; people’s votes would all hold the same weight under the popular vote. This would also give more of an incentive to equally campaign in elections, and not have people focus simply on battleground states. People in these states would then have more of a basis and inclination to vote. The popular vote is the most democratic way to elect a candidate and gives the people more of a voice and representation. Although our system is on a “winner takes all” basis, it would still cater to the most desired candidate and would provide more motivation to cast a vote. The popular vote is about who the people want more, therefore, that candidate should become the president. To ensure a democratic nation with equal representation, I think the popular vote should decide the election and the electoral college should be abolished.
