Embedded Files
Eric Joreteg & Lily Ayres
States are awarded electoral votes based on their population, but not proportionally. This leaves many voices to be unaccounted for. In bigger states more and more people's voices end up counting as just one vote. For example, California has a population of 40 million and only fifty-five votes, while Wyoming has a population of 578,759, with three votes. In California over 700,000 people's voices count for only one vote, but in Wyoming each vote represents not even 200,000.
States are awarded electoral votes based on their population, but not proportionally. This leaves many voices to be unaccounted for. In bigger states more and more people's voices end up counting as just one vote. For example, California has a population of 40 million and only fifty-five votes, while Wyoming has a population of 578,759, with three votes. In California over 700,000 people's voices count for only one vote, but in Wyoming each vote represents not even 200,000.
Citizens can't actually vote for a candidate. They vote for control of the electors.
Citizens can't actually vote for a candidate. They vote for control of the electors.
Every states’ electoral votes, except for Nebraska and Maine, are awarded to candidates through a winner-take-all system. If a candidate gets just over 50% of the votes in a state, they automatically get all of the state’s electoral votes. Effectively, the votes for the other candidates not only are rendered useless, they're counted for the candidate of that state's majority. This is because electoral votes are based off of the state's population, which means that the majority decides the entire slate of electors, no matter how much of the state's population that majority actually is. This includes everyone who voted for the candidate, everyone who didn't vote for that candidate, everyone who didn't vote, and everyone who is unable to vote. With this winner-take-all system used in combination with electoral votes being decided by population, it creates a situation where it doesn't matter how many people vote because voting power is already decided. Instead, what matters is getting a majority of voters to decide for the entire population. A situation like this does not encourage the extension of voting rights to everyone; it instead encourages the restriction of voting rights to as small a group as possible, or just simply cutting out groups that would vote against certain parties, so that their population would still count towards the voting majority’s vote.
This is what happened at the dawn of the United States. The entire slave population's vote was decided by their masters, and the Southern states settled with the electoral college because of this. A winner-take-all electoral college system resembles this, with a group's vote being controlled by someone else.
This is what happened at the dawn of the United States. The entire slave population's vote was decided by their masters, and the Southern states settled with the electoral college because of this. A winner-take-all electoral college system resembles this, with a group's vote being controlled by someone else.
“Today, citizens over the age of 18 cannot be denied the right to vote, regardless of race, religion, sex, disability, or sexual orientation.” - Whitehouse.gov
“Today, citizens over the age of 18 cannot be denied the right to vote, regardless of race, religion, sex, disability, or sexual orientation.” - Whitehouse.gov
Citizens who live in the U.S. Territories cannot vote for president. This is simply the territories that they live in are not states, and the constitution originally only granted electoral votes to states, and then was amended to include D.C. in 1961. Puerto Ricans are U.S citizens by birth, but unless they move to and take up residence in a state, they cannot vote for their own president. American Samoa has the highest military enlistment rates of any state or territory, but they have it even worse than Puerto Rico, as they aren’t even born citizens. Born as American Nationals, they have to go through a naturalization process. This means that they have to pay a fee as part of the process to gain citizenship in a state after moving to that state and taking up residence
Citizens who live in the U.S. Territories cannot vote for president. This is simply the territories that they live in are not states, and the constitution originally only granted electoral votes to states, and then was amended to include D.C. in 1961. Puerto Ricans are U.S citizens by birth, but unless they move to and take up residence in a state, they cannot vote for their own president. American Samoa has the highest military enlistment rates of any state or territory, but they have it even worse than Puerto Rico, as they aren’t even born citizens. Born as American Nationals, they have to go through a naturalization process. This means that they have to pay a fee as part of the process to gain citizenship in a state after moving to that state and taking up residence
The Thing To Know
The Thing To Know
At the dawn of the United States, the entire slave population's vote was decided by their masters, and the Southern states settled with the electoral college because of this. Today, our winner-take-all electoral college system resembles this, with a group's vote being controlled by someone else.
At the dawn of the United States, the entire slave population's vote was decided by their masters, and the Southern states settled with the electoral college because of this. Today, our winner-take-all electoral college system resembles this, with a group's vote being controlled by someone else.
The Thing To Consider
The Thing To Consider
What if doubling the voting population in a state doubled the states voting power? In a situation like this, no one would even have a basis for arguing against women or minorities voting. Unfortunately, our system does not encourage the expansion of rights, and because of that Republicans justify to themselves actively working to disenfranchise voters in order to protect "the vote."
What if doubling the voting population in a state doubled the states voting power? In a situation like this, no one would even have a basis for arguing against women or minorities voting. Unfortunately, our system does not encourage the expansion of rights, and because of that Republicans justify to themselves actively working to disenfranchise voters in order to protect "the vote."
Something To Look At
Something To Look At
“What’s clear is that, more than two centuries after it was designed to empower southern whites, the Electoral College continues to do just that. The current system has a distinct, adverse impact on black voters, diluting their political power. Because the concentration of black people is highest in the South, their preferred presidential candidate is virtually assured to lose their home states’ electoral votes.”
“What’s clear is that, more than two centuries after it was designed to empower southern whites, the Electoral College continues to do just that. The current system has a distinct, adverse impact on black voters, diluting their political power. Because the concentration of black people is highest in the South, their preferred presidential candidate is virtually assured to lose their home states’ electoral votes.”
Codrington III, Wilfred. “The Electoral College's Racist Origins.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 16 June 2020, www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/electoral-college-racist-origins/601918/
What We Must Do
What We Must Do
We cannot continue to use a system that benefited the institution of slavery, nor can we continue to afford a system that encourages the restriction of voting rights. While it may have helped form our nation over two-hundred years ago, all that the electoral college accomplishes today is making the election more vulnerable to rigging, gerrymandering and securing voting power to an increasingly small group. If we are to be a democracy, whose power is granted by the people, or even a republic, whose power is held by elected officials, then we must adopt a system that encourages the expansion of voting rights.
We cannot continue to use a system that benefited the institution of slavery, nor can we continue to afford a system that encourages the restriction of voting rights. While it may have helped form our nation over two-hundred years ago, all that the electoral college accomplishes today is making the election more vulnerable to rigging, gerrymandering and securing voting power to an increasingly small group. If we are to be a democracy, whose power is granted by the people, or even a republic, whose power is held by elected officials, then we must adopt a system that encourages the expansion of voting rights.
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