The Electoral College Should Not Be Abolished - Essay Example

Election reform supporters want to either eradicate the Electoral College system entirely and replace it with the direct popular vote or repair perceived defects in the present system. However, the Electoral College was put in place for a reason by the same minds who founded the nation. Maybe we should try to better understand their motives before scrapping the system. 

States with smaller populations argue that if the electoral system were eliminated candidates for president would have no motivation to advertise our campaign there.  “Why visit a small state with a media market that reaches, say, 100,000 people, when a visit to a large state can put the candidate in touch with millions?” (Gregg, 2001).  Those opposed to the Electoral College want a direct national election, contending that it would better represent the diversity of the country.  A direct election system would create incentives for campaigns to spend time and money in small states.  Candidates would collect votes for their effort even if they lost the state as a whole.  Even more importantly, “the financial calculus of election campaigns in a direct-election system might help level the playing field between large and small states.  Large states have more voters to be sure, but reaching these voters are very expensive propositions since advertising rates are often astronomical.” (Klinkner & McClellan, 2000).  In addition, smaller states usually have less costly media markets. Therefore, candidates may discover that for the same money spent in a larger state's market, an equivalent number of voters could be reached for a lesser amount of funds in a smaller state.

Under the Direct Election system, each eligible voter would directly cast a vote for the president, one person; one vote and the Electoral College would be abolished. The National Bonus and District Plans are also alternatives to the current election system. The National Bonus plan would modify the Electoral College to maintain the advantage it provides to the current two-party system while boosting the influence of the people. The winner of the popular vote in each state would be given an additional two electoral votes. “This plan would presumably preserve the power of the states to function as organic units while dispensing with the most undemocratic feature of the Electoral College, the tremendous weight given to small states” (Schlesinger, 1973).  The District plan would preserve the Electoral College system except that each state would utilize its House Congressional districts as ‘elector’ districts.  The candidate receiving the most votes in each elector district would win the entire electoral vote from that district.  “In those states dominated by one political party, the district plan might also provide an incentive for greater voter participation and an invigoration of the two-party system in presidential elections because it might be possible for the less dominant political party’s candidates to carry certain congressional districts” (Sayre & Parris, 1970).

Proposals to eliminate the Electoral College have not succeeded mainly because alternatives seem more problematic than does the present system.  The Electoral College, though an imperfect and antiquated system, is not going the way of the dinosaur some claim it to be and probably never will.  While reforms are proposed are continually offered, especially following close elections as in 2000, there are few credible movements toward genuine change because most agree the present system is not broken and a new system could not improve it.