Judging by the way things are looking with this year’s election, the Electoral College is not benefiting American citizens. People fight both sides of the system, but the truth of the matter is that although the Electoral College has been in place for over 200 years, Americans are still not sure how it works or if it is the best method. Our country is supposed to be a symbol of democracy, but to this day, American elections are not truly democratic, for there are no direct Presidential elections.The Electoral College is the constitutional system for the election of the president and vice president of the United Sates. It is the collective name for a group of electors, nominated by political parties within the states, who meet to vote for those two offices.Each party within a state selects a slate of electors numerically equal to the state’s congressional delegation; representatives plus senators. So, when the American people vote for president and vice president they are actually voting for slates of electors pledged to their candidates. The electoral vote of each state is cast as a unit, and the victorious presidential and vice presidential nominees in each state win the state’s entire electoral vote. The candidates receiving a majority of the total electoral vote in the United States are elected. This is actually established in Article II, section I, of the Constitution, it’s intentions being to resolve interstate disputes about power based on geographical and regional differences. However, it was blatantly distrustful and alarmingly paternalistic towards the American populace, not to mention being flat out undemocratic. The Electoral College was aimed at preventing the general public from having any direct power in political control. The Electoral College has worked for the most part in previous years, because nearly all presidential elections have been won by wide enough margins that the popular a...
