Government

Author

Institution

A presidential election, in America, constitutes two results: the electoral and the popular vote. The popular vote constitutes the voters’ choice for the vice president and president while the electoral vote constitutes the electors’ choice; electors are political party representatives. The electoral vote acts as the chief deciding vote for vice president and president, which is in accordance with the constitution (Shea, 2007). In order to get the electoral vote, political parties select their popular party candidates, who usually has a strong attachment with the party presidential candidate; the process of selecting electors is different depending on state. After winning the electoral vote, these electors vote for their own party presidential candidate.

One of the chief advantages of the electoral college is that it influences the manner in which campaigns are run. It takes a campaign into state by state battlefields. In case the electoral college was not there, candidates would probably ignore rural areas and concentrate on the media so as to obtain a maximum number of voters (Shea, 2007). On the other hand, the electoral college bars true democracy through limiting the number of political parties that are capable of competing in presidential elections. Besides, the electoral college permits candidates to take states for granted, if voters in those states consistently vote for one party in national elections. Therefore, the current electoral college process should be changed.

The electoral college system may work without formally abolishing it, but through changing the manner in which the system works. A proposal to such a change would be proportional representation. In such a system, the citizens would vote for parties, which present the electorate with their platforms. After the election, the parties become awarded with the number of seats proportional to the votes that they earn. It is after this that the parliament can select the executives (DeLaney, 2011).

Although the electoral college helps in the representation of the minority, it is not democratic enough since political parties with an interest of flagging a presidential candidate may not do so since many parties fielding a presidential candidate are likely to lose in the electoral votes (DeLaney, 2011). Therefore, many parties participating are likely to become spoilers of the election. The electoral college may end up presenting a president that majority voters do not want on the basis of his incapacity to lead.

References

DeLaney, A. (2011). Politics For Dummies. New York : Wiley & Sons.

Shea, T. (2007). America’s Electoral College: Choosing the President, comparing and analyzing charts, graphs, and tables. New York: Rosen Pub. Group’s PowerKids Press.