Advocates for eliminating electoral votes also point to potential benefits in terms of civic engagement and vote integrity. Today that system is threatened by a proposal called the National. What does arthur schlesinger, jr. say would happen if the electoral college was abolished? The Electoral College was designed specifically to prevent the tyranny of big states over small states, as was the U.S. Senate, which affords all states, large and small, equal representation. John G. Wells - October 28, 2011. And the other is power after Trump. After a long battle in Florida Bush won the state narrowly, giving him an Electoral College victory of 271 to 266 over Al Gore. National . Regardless of how much wisdom exists in the idea to abolish the Electoral College and decide presidential elections on, you know, which candidate receives the most votes, the move would require a . Proposals to abolish the Electoral College, though frequently put forward, have failed largely because the alternatives to it appear more problematic than is the College itself. Preserving the Electoral College is not about protecting one party over the other. (John . You just have to convince them that it's not so unfair they should overthrow the system." And for . This would take the vote away from the rest of America. Yes, because this country is a democracy and the popular vote should count not the electoral votes. There were a lot of people in Congress who still wanted it to happen, and interest heightened again after the 1976 election between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. There are two reasons they want to abolish the Electoral College: One, of course, is Trump. F or the fifth time in history, the U.S. has elected a president who lost the popular vote, renewing calls to abolish the Electoral College . There are two reasons they want to abolish the Electoral College: One, of course, is Trump. could happen in 2016, he said. His big idea: amend the Constitution to abolish the . 3) A Person Can Become President By Winning Only 21.8% of the Popular Vote. President Donald Trump won the election in 2016 through the . List and explain three weaknesses of the Electoral College system. The Electoral College is uniquely suited for a nation as large and diverse as ours. The Electoral College ensures that all the states have a voice in the national election. This topic landed in the Verify inbox as well, with many wondering what it would . Dr. William Barber II, founder of Moral Mondays and co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, has often . History, 21.06.2019 22:00 . It is the formal body that elects the President and Vice President of the United States. How convenient. Answers: 1 Show answers Another question on History. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won 65,845,063 votes while Donald Trump won 62,980,160 votes - a difference of nearly three million votes and a 2.1 percentage point lead in the popular vote. In 2016, the results were even more dramatic. The power this unsanctioned committee gives itself is stunning. Transcribed image text: 5. The primary benefit of the electoral college is that it works to protect the best interests of the minority in every election. Jackson that the President elect would still be constitutionally the President, but would not enjoy the confidence of the majority "necessary to the successful discharge of his duties". The American Founders didn't think so. Yes, the arguments for and against the Electoral College took some unusual turns in the '70s. They are trying to use a riot to destroy our electoral system. Electoral College: The first acts of a new Congress usually hold great significance. The winner take all system makes it possible for candidates who lose popular vote can win the electoral college. In fact, our system reduces a presidential election to a few . The National Popular Vote would finally eliminate the false premise that the Electoral College was meant to protect small states. It was a catchy line, oft-repeated—but it was also a joke. Abolish the electoral College. . . It would be a mistake to assume if the Electoral College were abolished tomorrow that the current two major parties would continue as they are in the future. The Electoral College is outlined in Article II, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution. Click the links below for answers to these frequently asked questions. The following five reasons to abolish the Electoral College are offered by supporters of using a different approach to presidential elections. Someone Can Be President With Just 21.8% of the Vote. It forces candidates to wage national campaigns with a coalition of diverse peoples and interests instead of . By Ryan Teague Beckwith. "You don't have to convince the public that the system is fair. It's an unfair, undemocratic dinosaur that states will eventually abolish. And this was an effort that was supported by the AFL-CIO, the Chamber of Commerce, the American Bar Association, and progressive and liberal groups outside. Will says that the electoral vote produces a result that looks like "national decisiveness." 12.10.2020 Twice in the past 20 years a U.S. president has been elected to office despite losing the popular vote. View the full answer. Original question: What would happen if electoral college was abolished? Corbis/Getty Images. Back in 1787, when the delegates to the Constitutional Convention were trying to figure out how the President should be chosen, some wanted the Congress to choose, and . These votes are based off of each state's number of senators and representatives. So far, 15 states and the District of Columbia have agreed, meaning 196 electoral votes are pledged to the popular vote winner. They set a tenor, a tone, for what is to come. Source: "Gaming t. Established in Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, the Electoral College is the formal body which elects the President and Vice President of the United States. While . Answer (1 of 23): In the case of 2016, Donald Trump would still be the President. A supporter of President-elect Joe Biden holds up his cellphone to display the electoral college map, outside the Philadelphia Convention Center on Nov. 7. Rev. If states with another 74 total electoral votes adopt the plan, then. And the most recent major occasion took place in 1969, 1970, when there was a strong bipartisan effort to abolish the electoral college and have us utilize a national popular vote. A constitutional amendment that eliminates the Electoral College; An interstate compact of states pledging their electoral votes to the winners of the popular vote. It is impossible for a politician to gain the 270 votes needed to win the election by just concentrating on the states with the largest population or just one region. All over social media people are asking if the Electoral College is still needed for U.S. presidential elections. that few states could cause a person to win the election which shows the few ruling the many oligarchy. If no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the Presidential election leaves the Electoral College process and moves to Congress. But the Constitution and the courts have allowed the states some leeway to make changes to how their Electoral College representatives are chosen. As previously stated, the Electoral College is a winner take all system. Joe Biden won the popular vote by a margin of about 7 million votes and 4.5 percentage points overall (51.4% of all votes cast across the country were for Biden, 46.9% for Trump). A presidential candidate wins the Electoral College vote by getting at least 270 out of 538 total electoral votes. This splintering may also lead to extremism, hurting the moderation and compromise that he believes the electoral college system encourages. NEW: Jan 6 committee has split behind the scenes over what actions to take after public hearings: Some members want big changes on voting rights — incl to abolish the Electoral College — while others are resisting proposals to overhaul the election system. The Electoral College was created to count slaves as three-fifths human. therefore the electoral college should be abolished. 6. If so, Americans should be very worried about the new Democrat . Liberals would win every time with the big cities. The House's Jan. 6 committee has split behind the scenes over what actions to take after the public hearings: Some members want big changes on voting rights — and even to abolish the Electoral College — while others are resisting proposals to overhaul the U.S. election system, Axios has learned. For years, a majority of Americans have opposed the Electoral College. And the other is power after Trump. "In my lifetime, I have seen two elections where the winner of the general election did not win the popular vote," Boxer said in a statement. 1. Most democracies in the world today are multi party. Also this should not depend on the government, for the president is serving us, not the government. Support for direct popular election. While the District of Columbia is not recognized as a state, it is still allocated three electoral votes. I'll briefly give a primer on what each of these approaches would look like, their strengths and weaknesses, and their relative likelihood of success in the coming years. Iowa is a purple state. We voted for Trump in '16, Obama in '12, Obama in '08, Bush in '04, and Gore in 2000. It also ensures that a candidate runs a national, rather than a regional, campaign. In part, that is because the Electoral College is constitutionally mandated, and abolishing it would require a constitutional amendment. Polls. The fact that the Electoral College was originally designed to solve one set of problems but today serves to solve an entirely different set of problems is a tribute to . Harvard's Mukunda said. But its logic, its distortion of the democratic process and its underlying . So what would happen if we got rid of the Electoral College? The interests of the minority would no longer receive protection. It referenced Maine's long-standing reputation at the time for accurately predicting presidential elections based on its own governor . Hillary Clinton won the. Transcribed image text: 5. why does he think that is a problem. One study found that it is possible to win the electoral college by amassing just over 50% of the vote in Washington D.C. and 39 less . Step one: The Electoral College is enshrined in the 12t …. The 2016 election is one of those instances. What would it take to abolish the electoral college and replace it with a nationwide popular vote for the president? If a candidate wins the popular vote of a state by a just a single vote, he generally receives all the electoral votes of that state (excluding Maine and Nebraska). If the Electoral College was eliminated, the power to elect the President would rest solely in the hands of a few of our largest states and cities, greatly diminishing the voice of smaller. Twelve states and Washington, D.C. have entered into the National Popular Interstate Compact, which would abolish the Electoral College if states with a collective 270 electoral votes join in . It is time to abolish the Electoral College in favor of a single national popular vote where all votes count equally, Stanford political experts say. According to a bombshell Axios report, "In multiple conversations among committee members, Raskin has argued that the Electoral College should be abolished — that if presidents were elected by .