Electoral College

Our country has a very unique process when it comes to voting for the president of the United States of America. The people vote for who they want to win the presidency. One would think, who ever wins the popular vote should win the presidency right? Not in the U.S.

What the vote comes down to is the electoral college vote. This is implemented into our constitution in order to give states with a larger population, more representation. Every state, no matter the size of population, is allowed one vote automatically. There are 538 votes altogether. In order for the president to win, he/she needs to acquire 270 of those votes to win. In rare situations, a candidate may receive the popular vote, but still lose the race.

I personally do not like this system. I believe that which ever candidate has the most votes by the people should win the race because it is what the people want. Unfortunately this process is permanently installed into our constitution.

In the 2004 election, Al Gore and George Bush ran against each other for the presidency. Al Gore received the popular vote by the people, however, since George won the electoral college vote, he claimed victory and was the president. This shows how the system can fail.