Every presidential election, thousands of American Citizens head for the polls and cast their votes for the candidate of their choice. But little do they know that whom they elect is not necessarily in the hands of the people.
There is an entity called the Electoral College, which is a group of Electors who are empowered to elect a candidate for a place in office, more specifically, the President and Vice-President. This group meets a month after the elections to decide who they will place in these two positions.
The Electoral College started as a group in the 1800s, but it wasn’t until 1845 when it was finally written into federal law, under the name College of Electors. It was originally started to simplify the matters of elections due to the complications the rising of political parties created.
Many citizens do not know of the Electoral College and the power they have in this country. The College has the authority to ignore the popular vote (our vote) and cast a vote of its own.
The Electoral College claims that it grants smaller states a fair
chance in the election because basing the election on a popular vote is unfair to areas that are not well populated.
These Electors are supposed to automatically give their vote to the candidate who has won their state, but this is not enforced. Since they still have the liberty to give their individual vote and not follow the “technical rule” of giving their vote away, it really doesn’t matter who we vote for. In the past, it has occurred that the Electoral College grants their individual vote and not the vote of their state.
Although most Presidential elections have not had the controversy of the Electoral College contradicting the popular vote, there was a recent example of this case.
The 2000 Presidential Election had Al Gore running against George W, Bush. This election gave Al Gore
the majority of the popular votes, and
everyone assumed that Al Gore was our next US President.
The tensions began when Florida’s 25 electoral votes were listed as undecided, thus postponing the ultimate decision about who was to be the next president. The votes were given to George Bush since it was assumed he would win, but during the process, 3 heavily Democratic counties, Broward, Miami Dade and Palm Beach were left out of the election.
After much debating in the courts, the Florida state law granted Gore a revote in those counties. The case reached in the Supreme Court on December 12, where it was decided the recount was unconstitutional, thus granting George Bush the winning votes.
This is a great example of what our government tries to hide from our people. Many citizens, prominently the high school students do not realize that our voices are not heard and we aren’t able to make our own choices.
How can we as students be taught at schools run by a government that takes our rights away?
The Electoral College claims it is fair, makes our country appear more federal, that it assures we pick the most qualified person for the job and our nation just doesn’t vote ignorantly.
This entity cancels out the chances of minor parties being elected since the Electoral College decides to only vote for either a Democrat or Republican, so how can the College say it wants fairness, when it doesn’t even give other parties a chance? How can we even consider our government representative when this college is inherently undemocratic?
And how can we as the youth of America vote knowing that our votes are probably ignored because we aren’t educated enough to pick the right man for the job?
In order to ensure that we stay true to our Democracy, we need to rid ourselves of the Electoral College. By ridding ourselves of it, we will be giving the American people a real chance at electing our president.
If we base the Presidential Election solely on popular vote, it will give each political party a fair chance to run for the people whose votes they influenced. This way, we decide and not the political sovereigns that control society.
It’s in times like this that Americans need to know that their right to have a voice and make their choice is being violated. The Democracy they so much love is taking away their rights and they don’t even know about it.
Will it take incarcerations, protests, marches, strikes, or walkouts that to grant us a voice? The fight is in the hands of the American people.
