The Obsolescence of the Electoral College

      In 1787 the electoral college was founded by the constitutional convention of 1787. The primary reasons for the founding of the electoral college system were that information traveled slowly, the worry that factions(like political parties) would arise. I believe the Electoral college should be removed because the reasons it was founded are outdated.

 

     The electoral college should be removed because of one of the reasons it was created was because of the lack of communication and unity between states  in the beginning of the united states when the states and federal governments were still dividing up their powers.communication during this time was incredibly difficult because there were very few channels connecting the states together and the ones that did exist were very slow making it much harder for the voters to stay informed as well as  making it significantly more difficult to count votes, but now we have much faster and more efficient forms of communication making it effortlessly easy to communicate with anyone in the united states in seconds  so it can be much easier to vote and count the votes by utilizing modern technology.

“In the 18th century, communication and transportation were primitive and the country was sparsely populated. Most citizens were assumed to have no knowledge of candidates for federal office.” – Daniel Ullman, professor of mathematics at George Washington university

 

     Another reason the electoral college should be removed is because it emphasizes mainly the republican and democratic parties, making it harder for third party and independents to make legitimate runs at the presidency. With the winner take all system of electoral votes the larger parties have an advantage because they have a much larger backing, with many voters deciding based on the party on the candidate not necessarily on what the candidate promises or believes. The party system has essentially become the factions that Madison warned about in The Federalist no. 10 , the electoral college “enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens” making politics more about elections and less about law and policy.

“When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens.” – James Madison

     The electoral college makes many citizens believe that their vote does not matter especially those who vote in states that consistently vote for the same party each election. with the winner takes all system makes voters feel as though their vote doesn’t matter in consistently blue and consistently red states. by removing the the winner takes all system or the electoral college voters will feel as though they have more of a say in the election and will increase participation in elections.