Representation In The Electoral College

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The Electoral College is a compromise reached on September 4, 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Henry). The President of the United States is not chosen based on the popular vote by the people, rather indirectly through a process called the “college of electors” (USEAC). Early in our nation’s history, how a President would be elected was still in question. The founding fathers were intent on arranging a legitimate system of election for the people and by the people. During the Constitutional Convention, as the method for electing the president was being imagined, the delegates were confronted with opposition and resistance from the states. The states, 13 at the time, were resolute in maintaining their own …show more content…
The presidency would be elected indirectly, through a body equally but proportionately representative of each state in the federation. Consisting of 538 electors, a majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect a President (NARA). Representation in the college is directly sufficient such that the number of Congressional members a state has, one for each Senator and each Representative in the House, is so the number of electors a state will have. When a citizen cast a vote for President they are instructing their elector to select a candidate on their behalf. A primarily “winner-take-all” system (Diffen), the candidate that receives the largest number of electors in his or her state will sweep the election and be awarded all of the electoral votes from that …show more content…
Some of the most common objections to the system concern the blueprints of representation. Critics say a disproportion exists between electoral votes and state populations, Hawaii has a population of 1.36 million and has four electoral votes, while a state like Wyoming has triple the population and register only seven votes (Diffen). The “winner-take-all” method of collecting electoral votes seems to be a position of animus for defamers, asserting the possibility of a electing a president from the minority. Four times a candidate has won the popular vote and lost the election. Andrew Jackson in 1824, Samuel Tilden in 1876, Grover Cleveland in 1888, and Al Gore in 2000 (REP). Election by popular vote seems to be the preferred choice for detractors of the Electoral College, citing the popular vote’s superiority for its fairer tallying
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