The Electoral College or Why Your Vote Matters (a little)

When Americans go to the polls in November, it's pretty exciting.  We get to choose who is going to be our next president!  Well, hold on.  That's true, but it's not.

We do vote for the candidate and his running mate (who will be the vice-president), but we are actually telling our state's electors who we want them to vote for.

The video explains the Electoral College rather well.






Even after one understands what the Electoral College is, a question remains.  Why do we use it?

Opponents of the Electoral College (or those against it), say that with the electoral college:

• During campaigning, candidates are able to ignore entire states
• Votes of people in some states are worth more than those of other states
• Third party candidates are never able to win entire states, so it discourages them running at all 

And they are right about all three things.  They believe that we should go by the popular vote.  1 person = 1 vote.  So why don't we use that system?

Why we use the Electoral College:

• By using the Electoral College, candidates have to appeal to agricultural issues, not just urban issues.  
• If the election was based on popular vote, candidates could appeal to voters in cities and be done.  
• With the # of Representatives + # of Senators system, several states whose economy depends on farming and ranching have a say.  
• It is important that all the needs of the country are addressed, not just those of the majority.
• It makes a recount easier.  
• If it looks like shenanigans are taking place, then the votes of a state may be recounted.  This is expensive.  Millions of dollars expensive.  
• It is sill much cheaper , and less time consuming, than recounting the entire country!
• The results make the winner look like he had a commanding lead.  
• Take the 2008 election.  President barak Obama won with 52.9 percent of the vote, but using the Electoral College helped.  He had 365 Electoral College Votes compared to McCain's 173. 

It is possible that there is a compromise.  

A couple sites discuss options: 

• Fairvote.org
• Washington Post

Currently, I'm a fan of the vote by district plan.  Maine and Nebraska do that today.  It addresses the issues with the Electoral College, yet makes candidates focus on more than just urban populations, and makes recounts easier still.  But I could be convinced of something else

Sources:
http://www.commoncraft.com/video-explaining-us-election-process as found on http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2008
http://archive.fairvote.org/e_college/reform.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10803-2004Oct29.html

Images: 
http://fermentation.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c64d253ef013486908a9c970c-800wi
http://evoinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/800px-US_Electoral_College_Map_2008.svg_.png