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Clark Wilde
Mr. Hawkins
Government Per. 2
March 4, 2015
To Keep or Not to Keep: That is the Only Question
The Electoral College, founded in 1787, was only implemented 11 years after the United
States of America was established. It was necessary at the time to discover a way that
represented each state and accommodated to each states population size in the presidential
election. The nation was without a rapid mode of transportation and the quickest it took to get
across country was roughly two weeks. With this in mind it is reasonable to assume that news
about the presidential candidate took an excessive amount of time to reach each individual
citizen so it became necessary to make up a team of electors. These electors would represent
every state with a set amount of votes and are then given another round of votes according to the
states population until a majority was reached. The candidates with the majority of the votes
from the Electoral College are elected as Vice President and President of the United States of
America. This is an unfair system because the citizens are represented by a president they aren't
able to directly vote for. The Electoral College should be abolished because its
undemocratic, its small states are over represented, and it hurts third party candidates.
Firstly, the Electoral College is undemocratic and that is why it should be abolished.
For example, each state has a minimum of three electors, but the larger states of the northwest
are discriminated against because of their population size (Document A). From Washington to
North Dakota, these states remain unable to account for half of a majority vote. They have less
say in who becomes president compared to the northeast. For instance, presidential candidates

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only have to win over eleven states with the furthermost electors; unfortunately it isnt
proportional to land mass, but population size (Document A). It is undemocratic in how citizens
must move to the east coast to have a greater say in who acquires office. Western states arent
fairly represented and in turn neither is the population. Furthermore, In the case (of a tie in the
electoral vote), the election would be thrown to the House of Representatives (Document F).
This gives too much power to Congress (the government) and deducts it from the people. That is
a prime example of a government taking too much power away from its citizens. The Electoral
College being undemocratic extrapolates the thesis to a high degree, but it isnt the only way to
support the thesis.
Secondly, the United States Electoral College should be abolished because its small
states are over represented. For instance, when Washington, D.C. is added together with
twelve smaller states the total population comes to 12.5 million and they get a combined 44
electoral votes, while Illinois gets 20 votes with their greater population of 12.8 million
(Document D). These smaller states get twice as many votes for the presidential candidate, and it
is unjust. Each individual state should be assigned a meticulous amount of votes regardless of
population size to make an even election. Furthermore, Idaho has a population of 1.567 million
Americans and they have four electoral votes, while Wyoming has a population of 563 thousand
citizens alongside three electoral votes, a difference of roughly one million people (Document
D). This illustrates the idea that Wyoming receives too much power to choose who is in office
compared to Idaho which has 1 million more people. With simple math, one can conclude that
Idaho should have six votes if one vote represents 166 million persons. For example, Delaware
has three electoral votes and so does Wyoming, yet that leaves 334 thousand Delawareans
(Delaware citizens) unaccounted for (Document D). Delaware should have four votes to make it

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just. Wyoming should be deducted one electoral vote to make it an even playing field. Although
the idea that small states are being over represented isnt the only way to show that the Electoral
College should be abolished, it is an excellent way to further the thesis.
Lastly, third party presidential candidates are hindered from running and winning a
presidential election, which is why the Electoral College should be abolished. For example,
Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and John B. Anderson ran in the 1980 election, but only
Republican Reagan and Democrat Carter received the votes from the electors (Document B).
Anderson ran as an Independent which gave him a low approval rate and only 6.6% of the
population voted in his favor. He was then given zero votes by the electors, but if he ran as a
Republican or Democrat he might have won the election. For instance, Democrat Bill Clinton
and Republican George H. W. Bush received all of the electoral votes with Clinton winning by
38%, while Independent Ross Perot had 0% of the electoral votes (Document B). If electors
accurately represented their state Perot would have received a small number of votes which
would have given Bush a greater chance at winning. Furthermore, The system bolsters the twoparty system by discouraging independent candidacies that splinter the electorate (Document E)
It is wholly apparent that anyone who chooses to run as an Independent will not have a chance at
becoming the Chief Citizen. That is undemocratic because it excludes a candidate from taking
office simply because of the party they chose. Not only does the concept of third party candidates
being hurt extend the ideals of the thesis, it shakes it right out of the United States.
Overall, the reasons for the abolition of the Electoral College are clear; the Electoral
College is undemocratic, its small states are over represented, and it diminishes the opportunities
available for third party candidates. In a modern society, news about the presidency is literally
accessible by fingertip, and because of this, the Electoral College is no longer needed. The major

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concerns of the constitutional framers aren't prevalent in the modern day U.S. of A. and that is
the general reason to abolish the old system. The system is an outdated feature in the greatest
country in the world, and yet United States citizens are still unable to directly vote for the
President. All in all, the Electoral College is ineffective because it defies the United States main
ideals under which it was founded upon.