Electoral College Reform - Research Paper Example

? of Lecturer] Research Paper Electoral College Reform Introduction The Electoral College is the system used in the United States to elect its presidents. Generally, an electoral college refers to a set of electors with the mandate to elect a candidate to an office. Members of an Electoral College represent various interest groups or organizations with their votes weighted in specific ways. In countries where electoral colleges are used, the wishes of the general membership of a country or an entity is often ignored since the members of an electoral college are not only regarded as important but also as of the ideal wisdom needed to make better choices than the larger population (Bugh 34). Though dating back to the historical times, there are several cases of modern electoral colleges in countries with complex regional electorates, which prefer Electoral College elections to the rather direct popular elections. The United States is perhaps the only modern state in which presidents are elected indirectly through the Electoral College system. In the U.S., the electors in the Electoral College represent the 50 states and the federal district of Columbia. However, each state is accorded electors corresponding to its total congressional representation in both houses. In addition to these electors, the non-state District of Columbia has three electors. In the U.S where the law requires one to marshal 270 electoral votes to win the presidency, the Electoral College generally votes for whichever contender wins the popular vote in each state (Bugh 67). This paper explores the reform needs in the Electoral College system used in U.S presidential election. Although cases of conflict with the popular vote are rather rare, having been reported only three times in over 200 years, the Electoral College system has been deemed as requiring reforms despite its being a time-honored system because of its likelihood to conflict with popular vote. Electoral College Reform Proposals Several proposals or reform options have been suggested regarding the need to reform the Electoral College in the U.S. First, the Electoral College could be reformed by altering the organization of the states in the U.S. That is, the territory should be re-divided into equally sized 50 bodies with roughly equal populations. An advantage of this proposal is that it would end the over-representation of small states and the under-representation of big states in U.S presidential and senate voting. Further, this proposal will not do away with the Electoral College; rather, it will preserve and ensure the continued existence of the unique federal system and the Electoral College (Bugh 67). In addition, there will still be a balance of authority among different government levels. What is more, the states should be re-districted after every census. However, there are several challenges and disadvantages associated with these proposals. For instance, local authorities and residents would have to deal with the shifting state procedures and laws. The other reform options for the Electoral College system in the U.S include direct election followed by instant runoffs, proportional allocation of electoral votes, and direct vote with plurality rule, congressional district method, and national bonus plan (Ross & Will 165). Direct Election with Runoff With or without the Electoral College, instant runoff voting is a highly recommended approach to elections in the U.S. In this system, voters would be required to rank their preferred candidates so that in case no candidate emerges a clear winner and whoever has the lowest number of votes is automatically eliminated. Counting begins again during which second choice votes, which indicate the eliminated candidate as first choice are tallied. This process continues until a candidate with majority votes emerges. This system has the advantage of reducing time and resource wastages. The hallmark of most of the proposed replacements of the Electoral College emphasizes the need to proportionally allocate electoral votes. These approaches would see the splitting of a state’s electoral votes according to its popular vote percentages. In this proportional allocation, a candidate who comes first in a state with 60% votes receives 60% of the electoral votes, rather than 100% of the votes. Similarly, a candidate who comes third with 20% of popular votes gets 20% of the Electoral College votes instead of 0%. The obvious advantage of this proposal would be voter motivation, turnout, and party representation at all voting levels (Bugh 67). Further to these advantages, candidates would be encouraged to vote in every state and region. In fact, in the current system, candidates tend to concentrate majorly on competitive states. The flaws of the current system are further indicated by the fact that even if candidates perform poorly in a race, their supporters do not have the opportunity to participate in this performance since all the Electoral College votes go to the winner (Alder et al 75). As a matter of fact, these supporters’ votes and Electoral College votes go to a candidate they did not support. Direct Vote with Plurality Rule Direct vote with plurality rule is the other proposal for reforming the Electoral College voting system. This system involves one person casting one vote for a candidate, implying that the Electoral College system should be entirely abolished. The candidate who receives the most votes in an election in the direct vote with plurality nationwide wins an election. The U.S Constitution should therefore be amended by a 2/3 of Congress and 3/4 of the states support for such a drastic change to take place. That this system would reflect the popular choice of the people makes it a rather accurate and probably effective choice. Researches in the U.S and elsewhere indicate that people are more likely to vote if the chances of their votes making an impact are higher and that each vote would count in who wins an election. Additionally, the direct voting with plurality rule would ensure that the Electoral College system and the resultant non-competitive winner-takes-all approach to elections would be eliminated (Alder et al 62). Unlike the Electoral College system, the direct voting system strengthens peoples’ votes and are not only popular in many democracies around the world but also simple and do not allow faithless supporters to betray their allegiance to parties and the public. Importantly, the direct voting with plurality approach to voting does not counteract millions of popular votes cast in elections. Finally, National bonus plan would on the other hand retain the Electoral College in its current form but would award winners of the popular vote bonus electoral votes, two for every state and two for Washington, DC (Alder et al 132). Although thus proposal would not eliminate the winner-take-it-all nature of the Electoral College system, it would compensate for the irregular powers the Electoral College gives to the states. Conclusion The Electoral College is a system in which the winner in each state receives all the electoral votes allocated to that state. Although a few cases of conflicts with popular vote have been reported, calls have been forthcoming from different stakeholders. Examples of the proposed reforms or replacements for the Electoral College system are national bonus plan, direct vote with plurality rule, direct election with runoff, and the reorganization of the states. Works Cited Alder, G., and Alder, C., Peroutka, A. M. The Evolution and Destruction of the Original Electoral College, 2011. CreateSpace. Bugh, G. Electoral College Reform (Election Law, Politics, and Theory), 2010. Ashgate. Ross, T., and Will, G. Enlightened Democracy: The Case for the Electoral College, 2005. 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