The Founding Fathers created the Electoral College system as a compromise – to create a sense of fairness among the States while voting for the leader of their newly independent country. While this system was appropriate for their time, it certainly does not suit ours. Back in the 1800s, people had very few resources that were necessary to learn about politics. As a result, many had either no or a very vague idea about the current events that were going on at the time. They, as a whole, had very limited knowledge about political affairs, and life outside of their towns in general.
The Electoral College was made essentially to keep people who didn’t have the best understanding of politics from voting for the leader of their nation. It was a method of prevention – save the people from themselves. The Founding Fathers left the decision up to the select group of voters – people who were politically involved and actually understood the candidates’ point of view. The Fathers knew that they would be able to make the best choice for the people.
Today, that is not the case. We have computers, TVs, newspapers, magazines – everything we need to educate ourselves about politics and current events. We don’t have to be spoken for. While the Electoral College was and still is a good system, it is explicably flawed, as any system is. These flaws were especially showcased in the election of 2000, where the process established in the Constitution was followed perfectly, yet there was still confusion over the result. In that election, Al Gore had won the popular vote with 50,996,039 votes cast for him; 539,898 more than had been cast for Bush, yet, he had not won the Presidency. According to the rules set by the Founding Fathers, Bush had won because he received 271 votes in the Electoral College, while Gore only received 266. This result completely undermined what the majority of our nation wanted. There has been four times total when the popular vote has not been elected, and if America truly is “for the people”, then clearly, something needs to change.
Also, the larger states are at a disadvantage, despite a larger number of votes. Each state has a different weight depending on their population; for example, in California, one Electoral vote has to cover the opinions of 655,000 people when in Wyoming, one vote has to cover only 172,000 people. Smaller states have more influence because they have more say per people, so it’s entirely misleading to say that every vote is equal, when clearly, each state’s weight is different.
The Electoral College system is not perfect, but I believe there can’t truly be a perfect system when it comes to politics. It was the best the Founding Fathers could offer. They lived in a time when communication was limited, and not many people had knowledge of anything outside of the town they lived in. They hoped that it would be an efficient way to elect the future leader of their nation, and that it would still be used decades later. I think that it was a good idea for their time, but unfortunately, for today’s society, it is a little outdated. In today’s world, we can have our own opinions because of the development of technology, and I think the Electoral College actually somewhat represses our opinions because of the majority-take-all rule. It is not a valid way to elect our President.