The Electoral College

If the election relied solely on the popular vote, most Americans votes might not count towards the election outcome. This is because the candidates would only focus on regions with the most votes and ignore regions that are known to produce a low number of popular votes. In such a case, it is like only a section of the population is being used to determine the outcome of the election.

The Electoral College was not set up to reinforce slavery. During the inception of the Electoral College, the number of the representatives was calculated on the basis of the 3/5ths clause. This was not bias towards slavery since slaveholders wanted their slaves to be counted on the basis of 5/5ths. A good indication of the Electoral College positives is how the Electoral College was used to eradicate slavery. In the 1860 election, Abraham Lincoln had only earned 39% of the popular vote. However, he won in the Electoral College.

The Electoral College results were significant in 2016 presidential election since it was an indication of the entire countries representation. This ensured that every vote counted towards the election of the president regardless of where it was cast. It ensured that the candidates did not only concentrate on the interests of their perceived “strongholds.”

The political cartoon map of the United States without the Electoral College gives an indication of how unfair the voting process would be to smaller states and rural areas. This will result to inherent misrepresentation of the people’s wishes since it is states like New York, California, Texas and Florida that will be determining who becomes the president.

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