About two weeks ago I turned eighteen. After googling a list of “Things To Do When You’re Eighteen”, the only one that I had always imagined doing was registering to vote. I answered a couple of questions and ten minutes later I was a registered Democrat. Right after I registered, I thought about what that meant in terms of the presidential election. Most people are familiar with the term “Electoral College”, but I think very few people know how it really works. As a new eighteen-year-old, unfamiliar with how the Electoral College works, I’m glad I am taking an AP Government class.
I had no idea that the Presidential Preference Election/ primary system was party-driven. The problem with this is that it eliminates any third-parties because the strength of the party ultimately determines the strength of the candidate’s campaign and their influence. Unfortunately, it also creates even more polarization between the parties.Earlier this year we looked at a map called “Purple America.” Instead of showing the states as red or blue, it showed various shades of people ranging from a magenta to a deep indigo. It’s easy to make generalizations about certain states based on a solid, primary color if you are not aware that America is purple . My home state, Arizona, always comes out as red in the general election. Every out-of-state Democrat laughs when they hear we’re from Arizona because they automatically assume that everyone in the state is a die-hard Republican. I probably would’ve assumed this too if I hadn’t seen the “Purple America” map. Instead of showing Arizona as a crimson, the map depicted Arizona as fairly purple. In fact the city of Tucson is pretty blue. These misconceptions about the political affiliation of each of the states comes from the Electoral College.
Another problem with the Electoral College is that it favors the Democratic party over the Republican party. Why? Geography. When you see a the electoral map, it’s misleading because the map looks more red than blue. The truth comes out when you look at the number of electors for each state. States such as California and New York are located on the coasts. Both of these states have eighty-four electors combined! New York and California are home to some of the biggest cities, so because the population is mostly urban, it tends to be more progressive or Democratic. Florida and Texas are the two red states with the largest population, but still their total amount of electors only comes to sixty-seven. The majority of traditionally red states are states such as Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, etc, and they only have three to four electors. And other traditionally blue states, like Washington, Pennsylvania, and Virginia have anywhere from twelve to twenty electors.
When a presidential candidate is campaigning, they want to go someplace where they can be influential. This means that a Democrat won’t find it necessary to go to Texas because that state pretty much always comes out red. Instead they will spend time in states that could go either way and that also have a fair amount of electors. What ends up happening is that states with very few electors never get visited. This means that only a select group of people are recognized by the federal government. We defined democracy as a system of government where people vote in fair, elections that result in a deliberative rule of law. A key part of this definition ispeople; without the participation of the people, there can be no government. So after finding out that a lot of the states end up being ignored, my first question was: How is that fair or democratic? A Presidential Preference Election is when delegates are selected to go to conventions at the district, state, and national level. The purpose of this part of the system is to nominate someone for the presidential ticket: not to elect the President. Then the really scary thing hit me: we don’t actually vote for the President. Instead we vote for electors and the electors select the President. I immediately thought back to the definition of democracy: people vote in fair, elections. But where are the people?
It had never occurred to me that as a Democrat in Arizona, my vote will never be represented in the current Electoral College system because of the winner-take-all system. This means that in a state like Arizona, if forty-percent of people vote Democrat, and sixty-percent of people vote Republican, all eleven electors go to the Republican party. So basically what this means is that forty-percent of the people’s votes are totally irrelevant in the general election. An important part of Democracy is the participation of the people, and the current system actually discourages and inhibitsparticipation. The minority in the winner-take-all states have no incentive to vote because it’s not really going to matter in the end. Getting rid of the Electoral College is going to be laborious and difficult, so I don’t think it’s a viable solution. However, there are two states that don’t have the winner-take-all system. Nebraska and Maine send electors from both parties based on the percentage. I don’t think it’s fair for two states to distribute electors differently than the rest of the country, so I think it will be beneficial to make every state send electors based on the percentage. Not only will this increase participation, (because people’s votes will actually be counted) but we might see stronger third-parties. If more people participating in their government, then isn’t that really what Democracy is all about?
I had no idea that the Presidential Preference Election/ primary system was party-driven. The problem with this is that it eliminates any third-parties because the strength of the party ultimately determines the strength of the candidate’s campaign and their influence. Unfortunately, it also creates even more polarization between the parties.Earlier this year we looked at a map called “Purple America.” Instead of showing the states as red or blue, it showed various shades of people ranging from a magenta to a deep indigo. It’s easy to make generalizations about certain states based on a solid, primary color if you are not aware that America is purple . My home state, Arizona, always comes out as red in the general election. Every out-of-state Democrat laughs when they hear we’re from Arizona because they automatically assume that everyone in the state is a die-hard Republican. I probably would’ve assumed this too if I hadn’t seen the “Purple America” map. Instead of showing Arizona as a crimson, the map depicted Arizona as fairly purple. In fact the city of Tucson is pretty blue. These misconceptions about the political affiliation of each of the states comes from the Electoral College.
Another problem with the Electoral College is that it favors the Democratic party over the Republican party. Why? Geography. When you see a the electoral map, it’s misleading because the map looks more red than blue. The truth comes out when you look at the number of electors for each state. States such as California and New York are located on the coasts. Both of these states have eighty-four electors combined! New York and California are home to some of the biggest cities, so because the population is mostly urban, it tends to be more progressive or Democratic. Florida and Texas are the two red states with the largest population, but still their total amount of electors only comes to sixty-seven. The majority of traditionally red states are states such as Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, etc, and they only have three to four electors. And other traditionally blue states, like Washington, Pennsylvania, and Virginia have anywhere from twelve to twenty electors.
When a presidential candidate is campaigning, they want to go someplace where they can be influential. This means that a Democrat won’t find it necessary to go to Texas because that state pretty much always comes out red. Instead they will spend time in states that could go either way and that also have a fair amount of electors. What ends up happening is that states with very few electors never get visited. This means that only a select group of people are recognized by the federal government. We defined democracy as a system of government where people vote in fair, elections that result in a deliberative rule of law. A key part of this definition ispeople; without the participation of the people, there can be no government. So after finding out that a lot of the states end up being ignored, my first question was: How is that fair or democratic? A Presidential Preference Election is when delegates are selected to go to conventions at the district, state, and national level. The purpose of this part of the system is to nominate someone for the presidential ticket: not to elect the President. Then the really scary thing hit me: we don’t actually vote for the President. Instead we vote for electors and the electors select the President. I immediately thought back to the definition of democracy: people vote in fair, elections. But where are the people?
It had never occurred to me that as a Democrat in Arizona, my vote will never be represented in the current Electoral College system because of the winner-take-all system. This means that in a state like Arizona, if forty-percent of people vote Democrat, and sixty-percent of people vote Republican, all eleven electors go to the Republican party. So basically what this means is that forty-percent of the people’s votes are totally irrelevant in the general election. An important part of Democracy is the participation of the people, and the current system actually discourages and inhibitsparticipation. The minority in the winner-take-all states have no incentive to vote because it’s not really going to matter in the end. Getting rid of the Electoral College is going to be laborious and difficult, so I don’t think it’s a viable solution. However, there are two states that don’t have the winner-take-all system. Nebraska and Maine send electors from both parties based on the percentage. I don’t think it’s fair for two states to distribute electors differently than the rest of the country, so I think it will be beneficial to make every state send electors based on the percentage. Not only will this increase participation, (because people’s votes will actually be counted) but we might see stronger third-parties. If more people participating in their government, then isn’t that really what Democracy is all about?