Advantages and Disadvantages of Electoral College

The Electoral College is a form of process that consists of the electors’ selection. It is the meeting of the electors in which they will conduct the selection of the President and the Vice President. The process also involves the electoral votes counting by Congress.

The founding fathers of the Electoral College had established it within the Constitution as the compromise between the President’s election by the vote within Congress as well as the election of the President based on the common vote of eligible citizens. The establishment of the process both has some advantages and disadvantages. That is why, people must be aware of them so that they will know where they will stand. They should then weigh the advantages and disadvantages of Electoral College.

Advantages of the Electoral College

Prevention of victory solely based on urban regions.
People who are in favor of the Electoral College are claiming that the present system avoids a candidate from wining through solely focusing on areas that are heavily populated. The candidate should take a more extensive approach.

Assist in the maintenance of federal character in the nation.
This system gives each state the freewill to design its individual laws with respect to voting. In addition, it also provides each of them the capability to make amendments.

Maintain division of powers.
The Constitution has been designed to divided government into 3 different branches that are designed to offer “balances and checks” along with deliberation. Certain proponents have argued that when the President is directly elected he can declare a national well-known mandate which will undermine the other branches of the government. What’s more it may probably lead to tyranny.

Two Party System.
A lot of people consider the negative effect of the Electoral College on 3rd parties as a good idea. It maintains the present two party systems in providing the county with firm stability.

Minority Groups.
Certain proponents have argued that the interest groups and minority groups may have a huge impact in influencing votes because of the winner take all system within the states.

Disadvantages of the Electoral College

States in bigger “swing” obtain the majority of attention.
In the majority of states, the candidate having the majority of votes acquires all the electoral votes of the state. A few states hold the history of voting consistently the Democrat or the Republican. Candidates might pay less attention to those states having more attention and clear favorites to big states without clear favorite.

Discourage voter turnout.
While the candidate having the highest common vote in every state acquires the entire electoral votes within the states with clear favorites (republican or democrat), voters will usually feel that their votes take no effect. The system of Electoral College does not motivate candidates from campaigning for the turnout of the voters, except in big “swing states”.

Favoring the smaller and less populated states.
The system of the Electoral College offers power to the small, less populated states, which is unfair with the larger states. It improves that small states’ electoral strength. Traditionally, it has privileged the Republican Party.

By weighing the advantages and disadvantages of Electoral College, you should then know where you stand.