The Electoral College

The Electoral College is the institution responsible for electing the President of the United States of America. Presidential elections in America are not direct popular votes, but rather work through the electoral college. The College originates in the United States Constitution, placed there by the Founding Fathers to ensure that the common masses would not have too much influence in selecting the President. Though suffrage has now been extended to all ethnicities and genders, the voting process still is controlled by the electoral college.

The system is comprised of delegates from each state, who vote for a Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidate on Election Day(November 4)  every four years. Delegate numbers are based on the number of Congressmen in the House of Representatives from an individual state and the two senators from that state. The process for choosing delegates varies depending on states. Most states employ a popular vote or a "winner take all", which means that if a candidate receives a majority of of the popular vote, that state's delegates go to that candidate. The main exceptions are Maine and Nebraska who choose delegates based on the popular vote and the popular vote based in each congressional district.

The candidate who is the first to receive 270 electoral votes wins the presidential election. In certain elections, there have been cases where the candidate who won the electoral vote did not necessarily win the popular vote. John Quincy Adams in 1824 was the first president to be elected without winning the popular vote. Including Adams, four presidents have won the election with only the electoral vote, the most recently being George W. Bush in 2000. If no candidate wins a majority of electoral votes, the election is decided in the House of Representatives, who cast their votes for a candidate.

Since its foundation, the electoral college has received both praise and criticism. Supporters say that the college is democratic in a number of ways. The delegates chosen allow states to be represented according to population, allowing more populated states to have a greater say than less populated ones. Opponents argue that the system is actually undemocratic for exactly the same reasons. They also claim that the college hampers voter turnout, as voters feel that they have no say in electing a president. I would say that, despite its clear flaws, the electoral college is not fundamentally wrong as opponents make it out to be. The flaws in the system do not happen so spontaneously as opponents claim, and actually runs pretty well. Replacing the system, indeed would only make the election process more complicated and would hurt American democracy instead of progressing it.

Sources include:
http://www.uselectionatlas.org/INFORMATION/INFORMATION/electcollege_procon.php
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/procedural_guide.html