OPINION: Voting in America is a right, privilege and myth
With the election just around the corner people are faced with a choice of who will become the next president of the U.S. But is the person we are voting for going to be the next president? The U.S. Electoral College is the system used to vote for the president and vice president.
Every four years people walk into a booth and select who he or she wants to run the country. What most people do not know is that the citizens do not directly elect the president or vice president.
What happens is the voters directly elect a designated intermediary, also known as the elector or mediator who represent the states voters. They are selected according to each states particular law.
People are used to the “winner take all system”, which is not required by the Constitution. It turns out that Americans are voting for electors who have pledged to support a nominee for presidency.
When the Founding Fathers were creating the Constitution and deciding how to select a leader for the country, they came up with a plan that worked in their favor. In the late 1700s, getting information was more difficult than it is today, making it difficult to know who to vote for.
That’s when the Founding Fathers decided to select a group of people representing each state to make a choice for the people. This system was created because these men thought it would be chaos and people would make errors.
This is why even when a President wins the popular vote and it seems he won the election, due to the Electoral College, the other candidate can still win. This system has been happening since Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went head to head in becoming president in 1800.
It gets even worse, the Electoral College also creates swing states. This means that the presidential candidates can ignore most of the country since only a few small states make the ultimate decision on who will become the next president and vice president.
For example people living in a small state like Montana where there is a small population end up having more say than a place like California, making the voting process completely uneven. The larger the state, the less power it holds. An undemocratic and ridiculous system that gives vastly more power to different voters depending on the state in which they live.
Swing states like Florida, Ohio and Philadelphia have so much power that at least 80 percent of the states have no voting power. Meaning people who want to vote might as well stay home.
To sum it up, when voting day comes, you will be voting for electors of the state. They are supposed to represent who the people of the state want for the next president. But really they are mainly a group of retired politicians and party flacks who choose who they want. Over 80 times has the people’s choice been ignored.Even though this corrupt system has tried to be abolished by people, it has been politically impossible to do so.
