Running head: ELECTORAL COLLEGE
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Why We Should Keep the Electoral College
Huy Tran
Coastline Community College
English 100
Prof. Davis
October 21, 2020
ELECTORAL COLLEGE
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Why We Should Keep the Electoral College
The 2000 and 2016 Presidential elections brought controversy and attention to Electoral
College. Those elections were two of five presidential elections that the winning candidates did
not win the popular vote. George W. Bush and Donald Trump were able to pull off an Electoral
College victory and that has occurred only five times in American history. Opponents of the
Electoral College said that it ignores the desire of the people and it should not be given too much
power. Some people argued that the Electoral College discourages people to vote because they
feel their votes are not important. Supporters of the Electoral College think that it is the wisest
way to choose a president since getting the majority of the popular vote does not really reflect
the country as a whole. The Founding Fathers established the Electoral College to prevent
tyranny from controlling public opinion and gaining power. For more than a hundred years, it
has proven that it is the crucial method to select presidents for the United States. This essay
argues that the Electoral College is essential for the US elections, and we should not abolish it
for any reason.
To begin, we must understand thoroughly the definition of the Electoral College, and
how it positively impacts the US elections. As defined by Congressional Research Service, “the
Electoral College is a body that consists of electors established by the United States Constitution.
Those electors elect the President and Vice President for the nation” (Neale, 2012, p. 1). Before
the Electoral College was created, the Founding Fathers debated for a long time to find a way to
choose the President and Vice President. After many reformations, the 12th Amendment
officially “set the voting procedure which allowed for independent ballots for electing the
President and Vice President” (Neale, 2012, p. 2). Although the Electoral College is always a
ELECTORAL COLLEGE
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controversial topic in America for many years, if we abolished the Electoral College, presidential
candidates would think states with the least population are not worth visiting. They would put
their time and effort in states with many people and lots of political impacts. The Electoral
College provides that a candidate must win many areas of the country not just population centers.
Candidates should campaign not only some parts of the West Coast or the Northeast, and it has
to have a well-rounded success rate with all of the areas. The Electoral College actually promotes
the states’ right to be fully recognized in the voting process, and it makes every state, and
therefore every voter matters in the election.
Secondly, the Electoral College also emphasizes on indirect democracy. Without the
existence of the Electoral College, we would have the divided population that directly elect the
