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Alexis Horton

English 102

Dr. Wynne

March 17, 2017

The 2016 election caused massive chaos and incited protests across the nation. There

were a lot of factors that contributed to the anger that these protesters were feeling. Donald

Trump was elected President after a campaign full of interesting perspectives and plans that

would isolate a lot of Americans. He also didnt win the popular vote and this seemed to cause

the most problems within the nation. Although, this has happened before Americans finally

began to question the legitimacy of their political system. Some are saying the election process is

outdated and other believe it works best for the type of democracy America is trying to uphold.

In order to figure out the truth, four questions must be considered:

1. What is the electoral college?

2. Does every vote count?
3. What disqualifies a person from being the President?
4. How important is the popular vote?

Understanding the factors that contribute to electing a President helps Americans know what

actions to take prior to election day.

What is the electoral college?

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To understand the electoral college one must understand when and why it was formed.

The electoral college was created in 1787 by the Constitutional Convention and is defined as a

process where electors are selected and meet after the election to vote for the President and Vice

President. The counting of the electoral votes is done by Congress (US Electoral College). Since

the institution of this process there have been minor changes made besides tweaking the amount

of electoral votes a state gets based on their population. The structure of the electoral college is

traced back to a government far ahead of Americas time. Its been reported that Americans took

after the Centurial Assembly system of the Roman Republic (Kimberling). Under this

Assembly electors are divided by class and cast their vote. Research shows that electors typically

hold leadership positions in their party or have been recognized within society (Bromwich).

One of the main reasons why the electoral college was created was due to the inequality

of representation each state received. For a state like California, whose population is that of

many states combined, they have a lot of power over who is elected. This is unfair to states like

South Dakota, or Wisconsin who have drastically smaller populations. Without the electoral

college, the votes from major states would determine the outcome of the election.

Although every American is asked to vote, their vote doesnt go directly to the candidate

of their choice. Once all votes are tallied in a state the electors then vote in December for the

candidate of their choice. Electors are supposed to vote for the candidate that won their state, but

there have been countless times where electors vote for whoever they see fit. Many Americans

feel this process is unfair and doesnt give the people true representation. I think it is intolerable

for democracy, said George C. Edwards III, a political science professor at Texas A&M

University and the author of a book on the Electoral College(Eder). Due to the electors being

able to make that choice many Americans feel slighted. A survey was conducted through Twitter.
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The account has 3,056 followers and a small percentage decided to participate. When asked Do

you think the electoral college is still effective 293 people voted and 67% voted that is was not.

Many responded saying that the system was outdated and doesnt properly represent certain

demographics. Although these results only represent a fraction of the American population, they

show that there is still a large percentage of Americans unsatisfied with the process.

The electoral college is a process introduced by the Founding Fathers that says direct

votes for the President are then considered by the electors and they then vote for the President.

Some say that the electoral college is heavily flawed because it doesnt truly give a voice to

every American. In whats said to be a democracy many see it as unfair that their vote doesnt

matter as it relates to the popular vote. Others say the electoral college is effective and must be

put in place to ensure that states with smaller populations such as Utah or Wisconsin dont get

disregarded by states with massive populations such as California.

Do you think the electoral college is still effective?

Yes
11%
22% No
Somewhat

67%

Does every vote count?

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Everyone is encouraged to get out and vote each election. But many people question if

every vote matters. Due to the electoral college being in place, the popular vote doesnt hold

much weight in elections. The only time where a single vote will have an effect on the

presidency is when your candidate loses by one vote or is tied within your state (Fleisher). This

happened during the 2000 Al Gore v. George Bush election. The votes from Florida had to be

tallied multiple times due to how close the numbers were. So, to many, your vote only matters

when elections are competitive (Kershaw).

Others feel that your vote has little to no effect on the Presidency, because as stated

before electors can vote for whoever they would like, although its frowned upon. Some feel

your vote isnt up to you, but to these leaders who have been selected (Bernish). This raises

many concerns. Some feel as if their vote should go directly to the President so that it counts for

something. Because if whoever you voted for doesnt win your state, your vote is meaningless.

In a survey conducted on Twitter the question Do you feel like every vote in a presidential

election counts? was asked. There were 192 votes and 64% voted no, while 36% voted yes.

These results may be helpful on a larger more scientific scale.

Contrary to this belief, many feel like every vote makes an impact on the outcome. They

argue that a landslide win for a candidate makes for a more powerful politician (9 Reasons

Why Your Vote Counts). Your vote can make or break a candidates election. These Americans

feel that you should exercise your right to vote and support those who you want to see run your

country. The main argument is that Youre only one person, but so is everybody else who votes

(9 Reasons Your Vote Counts). If everyone took on the attitude that their vote didnt matter,

millions wouldnt show up to the polls creating a huge disparity in the election. And if millions

didnt vote, the vote would lack representation more than it does with everyone voting.
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In the grand scheme of things your vote has little effect on the actual electing of a

President. Every vote matters, but every vote doesnt necessarily count. Your vote goes towards

an elector who then has the power to cast a vote for the President. Some believe Your vote will

only matter when the election is extremely close. When the election is close just one vote could

give a President all the electoral votes for that state. Some believe that your vote holds power no

matter what. The idea is that if your vote doesnt matter then the process wouldnt be held at all.

If millions of people stay home because they feel their vote doesnt matter there will be a huge

impact on the outcome of the election.

Do you feel like every vote in a presidential election counts?

Yes
36% No

64%

What disqualifies a person from being the President?

During the last election both candidates displayed very questionable behavior and it made

Americans question, what does it take to get a candidate disqualified. To begin, lets discuss the

qualifications needed. To run for President of the United States you must be a natural born

citizen, 35 years old and have been a resident of the United States for 14 years. Legally you dont

need any political experience, a college degree or even to graduate high school which are major

factors that the workforce looks for. Lots of Americans feel there should be stricter stipulations

on what makes a president qualified. There isnt anything legal that restricts someone from
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becoming President. People were outraged at the fact that Trump was blatantly racist, sexist and

a bigot. Despite these remarks, again there was nothing that could bring up a legal case against

Trump (Lu).

In a survey conducted on Twitter the question Do you think its constitutional to

disqualify a presidential candidate based on his character? was asked. There were 239 votes and

71% said yes while 29% said no. They said that the President is supposed to reflect the people so

he should be of upstanding character. They also said that you cannot fully and effectively run a

country if you have bad moral compass.

Others argued that being a good person is subjective. If you were to disqualify every

President who displayed flaws, we would have no President. For example, although John F.

Kennedy made major moves during the Civil Rights Movement he would be disqualified for his

affair with Marilyn Monroe. Character has nothing to do with the job description. Just because a

President isnt a good person, it doesnt mean that he is a bad President.

There arent many things that you can legally disqualify a candidate for. Unless a person

running for President breaks the law, there isnt much that would make someone ineligible to run

for the Presidency. There are 3 requirements that the person running must be at least 35, must be

a natural born citizen and have lived in the US for 14 years. If these requirements are met its

difficult to disqualify a candidate. Although many Americans argue that you should be able to

disqualify a president based on the moral issues that they speak of. For instance, Donald Trump

proposing a ban that is clearly discriminative made a lot of Americans uneasy and a White House

official came out and said that that type of behavior disqualifies a President from being effective.

But others argue that your morality doesnt intertwine with your ability to be a good President.
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Do you think it's constitutional to disqualify a candidate based on his character?

Yes
29% No

71%

How important is the popular vote?

The popular vote is the total number of votes counted towards a candidate. There have

been times where a candidate has won the popular vote by millions, and still lost the election

because of the electoral college. There have been questions about if this even qualifies as a

democracy. When you vote, and the candidate wins your state the electoral college takes this into

consideration. But just because a candidate won the state, the state isnt obligated to throw all its

electors behind the candidate that receives the most votes (Walbert). These electors are called

faithless-electors (DeSilver). This means that they cast their vote for the candidate that lost

their state despite the results. Its been argued that this isnt representative of democracy because

this represents who the electors want to win, not who the people voted for. The electoral votes

are also 1.36 times higher than the popular vote share. This is called the electoral vote inflation

(DeSilver). In a survey conducted on Twitter the question Should the popular vote matter more

than winning the electoral votes? was asked. There were 261 votes and 88% said yes while 12%

said no. This unscientific survey could possibly produce similar results on a larger more

scientific scale.
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With these complications one would assume that the popular vote matters a little,

but it doesnt mean much because of the electoral college working as a middle man between the

people and electing a President. The Constitution doesnt acknowledge the popular vote as

holding any power. There have been 5 occasions where the popular vote was won by one

candidate, but the electoral vote gave the Presidency to the other (Walbert). The most recent

election produced these results and thousands protested that this was unfair. In a survey

conducted on Twitter the question Are you satisfied with the outcome of the 2016 election?

was asked. 249 people voted and 88% said no, 2% said yes, and 10% said somewhat. These

results may represent the opinion of Americans if conducted on a larger scale.

Many credit winning the popular vote and not the electoral votes again to the huge

populations from the few states. A candidate could potentially win 1,000,000 more popular votes

and all those votes could be from a large state such as Texas or Florida. This also isnt

democratic because the votes from one large state shouldnt determine who will run the other 49

states.

The popular vote holds no weight over the electoral college. Although more Americans

voted for a candidate this margin can come from all over. The electoral college ensures that the

votes of one large state shouldnt skew the outcome of the entire election

Should the popular vote matter more than winning the electoral votes? Are you satisfied with the outcome of the 2016 election?
Yes
12% Yes 10%2%
No
No
Partial y

88% 88%
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Conclusion

The electoral process is for the people, but the people are less involved than one might

believe. The electoral college is responsible for casting the actual votes to make a candidate the

President. Many dislike this because they feel as if theyre not being represented properly, but

many accept that its put in place to create a balance so that all states are represented. Although

the electoral college isnt a direct democracy, its still a democracy. Americans are working with

an old system that still seems to work, despite the call for an update.
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Works Cited

Bernish, Claire. "17 Reasons Why Your Vote Not Only Doesn't Count, But Is Part of the

Problem." The Free Thought Project. The Free Thought Project, 08 Nov. 2016. Web. 18

Mar. 2017.

Bromwich, Jonah Engel. "How Does the Electoral College Work?" The New York Times. The

New York Times, 08 Nov. 2016. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

DeSilver, Drew. "Trumps Victory Another Example of How Electoral College Wins Are Bigger

than Popular Vote Ones." Pew Research Center. N.p., 20 Dec. 2016. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Eder, Jonathan Mahler and Steve. "The Electoral College Is Hated by Many. So Why Does It

Endure?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2016. Web. 18 Mar.

2017.

Fleisher, Arthur A., and Alexander Padilla. "No, Every Vote Really Doesn't Count." The Daily

Caller. N.p., 7 Nov. 2016. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Kershaw, David Carl. "Mobilizing the Mobilized: The Electoral Recruitment

Paradox." Mobilizing the Mobilized: The Electoral Recruitment Paradox (n.d.): 1-

22. Ebsco. Web.

Kimberling, William C. "The Electoral College." The Electoral College (1992): 1-20. Ebsco.

Web.

Lu, Alicia. "Could Donald Trump Actually Be Disqualified From Becoming President? Because

Yeah, That'd Be Great." Bustle. Bustle, 08 Dec. 2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

"9 Reasons Why Your Vote Counts." Military OneSource. United States Government, n.d. Web.

18 Mar. 2017.
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"Qualifications for the Office of President." Qualifications and Requirements for the Office of

President of the United States. Baron's Hill, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

U.S. Electoral College." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and

Records Administration, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Walbert, David. "Does My Vote Count? Understanding the Electoral College." Does My Vote

Count? Understanding the Electoral College. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.