Should The Electoral College Be Abolished Dbq Answer Key Pdf (2024)

FAQs

Why should we have an Electoral College? ›

The Founding Fathers established it in the Constitution, in part, as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.

Each state is entitled to a number of electors equal to the number of that state's senators and representatives in Congress (Art. II, U.S. Const.). Based on the 2020 U.S. Census, Florida is entitled to 30 presidential electors through the 2024 presidential election.

Generally, the parties either nominate slates of potential electors at their State party conventions or they chose them by a vote of the party's central committee. This happens in each State for each party by whatever rules the State party and (sometimes) the national party have for the process.

Whichever candidate wins a majority of the electoral votes nationwide – at least 270 – becomes president. Three times in the 1800s, the winner of the popular vote missed the presidency after falling short in the Electoral College, leading to complaints that the system ignored the will of the people.

The Founding Fathers created the Electoral College because they didn't trust ordinary citizens to be informed enough to adequately pick the president. They also worried that citizens would band together based on personal interests, rather than the overall good of the nation.

If no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the Presidential election leaves the Electoral College process and moves to Congress. The House of Representatives elects the President from the three (3) Presidential candidates who received the most electoral votes.

How does the Electoral College process work? After you cast your ballot for president, your vote goes to a statewide tally. In 48 states and Washington, D.C., the winner gets all the electoral votes for that state. Maine and Nebraska assign their electors using a proportional system.

In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years during the presidential election for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president. The process is described in Article II of the U.S. Constitution.

Which states lost electoral votes in 2024? ›

California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia each lost one.

The Twelfth Amendment made a series of adjustments to the Electoral College system. For the electors, it was now mandated that a distinct vote had to be taken for the president and the vice president. Further, one of the selected candidates must be someone who is not from the same state as the elector.

There are a total of 538 electoral votes, and the number of votes each state receives is proportional to its size --- the bigger the state's population the more "votes" it gets.

Faithless elector laws

As of 2020, 33 states and the District of Columbia have laws that require electors to vote for the candidates for whom they pledged to vote, though in half of these jurisdictions there is no enforcement mechanism.

New electors are chosen for each election, and at the conclusion of their duties, they disband. The Electoral College has evolved since its establishment in 1787. Constitutional amendments have improved the Electoral College, and over time States have altered the ways they have im- plemented it.

If the Electoral College was eliminated, the power to elect the President would rest solely in the hands of a few of our largest states and cities, greatly diminishing the voice of smaller populated states.

Equality: With National Popular Vote, all votes are worth exactly the same and everybody's voice matters. Fairness: This compact would rightfully ensure that the candidate who receives the most votes wins, just as in any other election in the country and unlike in 2000 and 2016.

In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years during the presidential election for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president. The process is described in Article II of the U.S. Constitution.

Political engagement – being interested in and paying attention to politics – is associated with views about the Electoral College, particularly among Republicans. Highly politically engaged Republicans overwhelmingly favor keeping the Electoral College: 72% say this, while 27% support moving to a popular vote system.