Election Central 2008



Official Campaign Websites

Democratic Candidates
For President

Hillary Clinton

Barack Obama
John Edwards
Bill Richardson
Joe Biden
Chris Dodd
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich
 
Republican Candidates
For President

Rudy Giuliani
Sam Brownback
(Out of the race)
Mike Huckabee
Duncan Hunter
John McCain
Mitt Romney
Tommy Thompson
(Out of the race)
Ron Paul
Tom Tancredo
Fred Thompson 
(Requires account)
 

Independent/
Unaffiliated
Candidates

Christopher Walken
Stephen
Colbert
(No appropriate website has yet to emerge)

 

Election Discussion or Essay Questions

3. Should the Electoral College be altered or abolished?
Why or why not?
  
    I think that the Electoral College should be abolished. If this country is supposed to be a true democracy, then having the college vote for the majority of their states votes doesn’t seem very democratic to me. People are told to vote so their voices can be heard, but if the Electoral College is voting with the majority, then the minority of the state isn’t being represented very well. I think that each vote that is cast should be counted, rather than just the Electoral College votes. It might be a more time-consuming task, but it would better represent the people and their individual opinions.

Kari H.


I feel that the Electoral College should be altered because it is a very unfair system to go by. When the Electoral College was first applied, it was used because states were not informed on the views of the candidates. However, now every person is very informed on information. Anyone can go onto the internet and look up all of the information they want in the blink of an eye. Therefore, there is no use of the Electoral College now days. 

I feel that the voting system that should be used, is a simple majority. In the 2000 election, George Bush was outvoted by Al Gore, but George Bush still one the election because of the Electoral College. Therefore, this system is not fair because people knew everything about the candidates, and they voted for Al Gore. Therefore Al Gore should have been the president.

Erik R.

 



3. Should the Electoral College be altered or abolished?
Why or why not? 

The Electoral College should be altered because when it first set up, it was made to make up for the lack of information that the people in the states had. They didn’t have access to information, so it was harder to make a well informed decision. The Electoral College allowed the people elected to make the best decision for the people because they knew more than the citizens.
Now, however, the citizens are more than capable of finding out information about candidates through television, newspapers and internet. Everyone who votes has the ability to find out all they want about a certain candidate. Everyone who votes is voting for the person they feel would best serve our country, and they don’t need a person to cast their vote for them. The voting should be based on just simple majority, and not have to rely on electoral votes for elections. 

Erika H.


I believe the Electoral College should be abolished because it doesn't give an accurate representation of the American voters majority. Bush got into office because the Electoral College voted him in. If our government went by popular vote someone else would have taken the White House. I think the American people could do without the Electoral College so that the person we actually want if office gets into office. All in all, the Electoral College should be abolished because it doesn't always go along with the majority vote and so the wrong candidate gets into office and messes everything up.
 
Steve S.


The electoral college should be abolished for many reasons. It isn't in
the true spirit of democracy. Under this system the people are not voting for the president directly but instead the people's decisions are made for them by the representatives from the party who won the state. The popular vote isn't as important with the electoral college because of the fact that each state is worth a different amount. If a candidate wins California, Florida, and Texas, or a combination of two of the them the game is pretty much over. If the win the electoral college they win the election regardless of the popular vote. This happened in the 2000 when Bush won the electoral College but Gore had more popular votes.

Danny A.


Yes. The Electoral College is a joke. It takes the process of choosing the president by who the nation thinks deserves the job and turns it into a process created in case the Nation was not capable of making the right decision. In 2000, Gore won the popular vote and did not become president. Why is America being led by someone that a majority of the country did not want as their leader? the people who came up with the Electoral College long ago would tell you that that is good and most likely it's due to the fact that the informed voters voted for Bush. This may have been true long ago, but now, the American public is perfectly capable of choosing their own president. Information is much more readily available, the average American is much more educated, and all candidates visit each and every area that votes are to be collected from. The process of campaigning has changed, the average education of the country has risen, all of the reasons for using the Electoral College are gone. So why do we still have it? It's absolutely absurd! I will never feel like my vote truly counts in the presidential election under the Electoral College. I'll only feel that I helped or hindered my state in turning red or blue. That is why I have made the choice not to participate in the 2008 presidential election even though I will be 19 years of age. And I will continue not to participate in the presidential election until the Electoral College is abolished. not altered, but completely abolished.
 
Mac N.
Renton, Washington

In my opinion the Electoral College has served its purpose and is no longer necessary in modern day elections. When initially put into place the Electoral College was an attempt to keep voters in check because with the limited transfer of knowledge it was all too common that voters wouldn't be properly informed of the candidates that they are voting for.

            In our modern day and age with the spread and travel of information that we have, it is no longer necessary to keep in place an Electoral College. As opposed to providing a successful means of protecting the American voters from voting misinformed, it inhibits the victor of a popular election in favor of that who wins the Electoral College. I feel that the title of president should be handed to the candidate who receives the majority of a popular vote so am therefore in support of abolishes an Electoral College.

Riley H


I have chosen to answer question number 3, which deals with the electoral college. The electoral College should be abolished, because American Citizens should have the final say in who is put into office as president. The people in office should count their votes just like everyone else. that way the electoral college will not be who gets picked for president. If the Electoral College did not exist, then more people would vote, because they would know that their vote would count more than it did when the Electoral College was around. So I do believe that the Electoral College should be abolished to strengthen the election process.

darrenchelette


The Electoral College is important in making sure that the “right guy” is elected for President. The Founding Fathers were afraid that the American people would not be able to choose a presidential candidate based on what they would do for the country so much as how charismatic they were. To protect the presidency from being ruled by and incompetent leader, they established the Electoral College, which is a group of representatives from each state who would vote on the person that their state had the majority of votes for. In today’s world, the American populace has many more avenues for information, and therefore they are not so ignorant in the issue of politics. The Electoral College is no longer necessary in today’s world, and should consequently be abolished, letting the American people decide with the popular votes who they want to lead the country because it is a better example of the people wants and views, rather than some stuffy elected officials voting for them.

Bethany
 


It would be far more beneficial to the United States if the Electoral College was abolished. First off, the Electoral College system fails miserably at accurately reflecting the national popular vote. While many Americans agree with the theory that the candidate who receives the most votes ought to win the election, the Electoral College completely disregards this theory, as the candidate who wins the Electoral College is not necessarily the candidate who wins the most votes of the people. This, in effect, could ultimately cause individuals to question the newly elected president’s legitimacy. And, although many Americans do agree it is important to vote, this flaw does anything but support that thought, as it tends to scream “my vote won’t make a difference”.

            On top of that, the Electoral College system gives inconsistent and unbalanced weight to the votes received by individuals of smaller states compared to those of larger states. For example, the vote from a New York resident weighs nearly ten times more than that of a California resident. And, because California receives so many more electoral votes than New York does, candidates tend to campaign and advertise toward the larger states, such as California.

These are just a handful of the many flaws in the Electoral College system, which supports the theory that America would be better off without it!

Lisa B.


I think the Electoral College should be abolished because it is an old time, outdated system. Back when they first started elections it was impossible for all of the voters to be informed of the candidates. Because of that, they could not have the election by popular vote and were stuck with having to come up with a new system. They created the Electoral College so a few representatives could represent and vote for the entire state or colony. It made sure that all of the votes would be counted properly and that the votes that were being counted mattered.

Nowadays, it is unnecessary to have the Electoral College. It is easy for the voters to stay informed about the candidates with all of our modern day technology. Also we are able to get all of the votes in quickly and efficiently. Since everyone can now make an educated vote we no longer need the Electoral College to have representatives make the votes for us. Especially since the Electoral College has made a big difference in recent election. George W. Bush won the presidency, while losing the popular vote, because of the Electoral College system. Since everyone can now make a worthwhile, informed, vote the popular vote should be what decides our nations presidency.
 

Bryce N.

3. Should the Electoral College be altered or abolished?
Why or why not?
 
 
I believe that the Electoral College should be abolished. By using the electoral college, every single vote is not being counted. This completely eliminates the meaning of voting, seeing as how candidates are meant to be elected president based on the majority vote of the people.  The system simply ignores the views of most people, and merely focuses on the few selected electors within the state to make the decision. The Electoral College should be abolished because it is simply not considering all Americans choosing who is president. What kind of nation are we if we are letting a select few people decide who will decide our future? We need to change this system of voting. 

In regards to the Electoral College question, I believe that it is a necessary "evil" in the United States today. I know that even though this country says that voters hold sovereign power, the electoral college skews that power slightly, but it is required for proper leadership in our country. The general public is not always well informed on legal issues and governmental candidates, and the electoral college voting system keeps us from making the wrong decisions. We still have our voices heard; we vote for other people to vote for us. Why would we vote for those other people if they did not agree with us on certain issues? Yes, in today's world people can access the information about candidates and legal issues over the television or internet, but there is a portion of voters who don't thoroughly research that which they are voting for. Coming generations lead a very sedentary life style, and we need to ensure that it is still the educated people who are making sure our country is run the way it should.

Locke

The Electoral College should be altered because I think that right now it doesn’t show the true votes of the public. It really doesn’t matter what the people vote because the Electoral College decides the election. A normal vote gets a winner by what the public or who votes in the election. There is normally not an Electoral College, the presidential election should be based off the votes of the people.

In the 2004 elections Kerry won the popular vote but Bush won the Electoral College.

(Editorial note: Untrue:

Bush Popular Vote %age Kerry Popular Vote %age Bush
Electoral
Kerry
Electoral
62,028,285 50.7 59,028,109 48.3 286 251

Source: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0922901.html)

Bush is our president because of the Electoral College, if this was a election in a school for instance Kerry would have won because there is no Electoral College. The presidential election should be converted to just use the popular vote and not have the Electoral College be the deciding factor

Jake S.


The electoral college is an out-of-date system that is altering our presidential election results. The alternative would be a popular vote, which makes a lot more sense than the way it is now, where states get a certain amount of votes that go towards candidates. however, the system is flawed in that because the way it works, a resident in Wyoming's vote counts for four times as much as a resident in California. This means that though Wyoming has a smaller population than California, they receive more votes than what California would (or other larger-smaller state ratios) if it was counted the same.


Another problem with the system is that because certain states get less votes than others (Montana gets 3 whereas California gets 55), candidates don't spend as much time (practically no time) campaigning in the small states. If the president was elected on a popular vote, they would be forced to spend time in all states, appealing to all voters, not just the big state voters. It is of vital importance that we work to ensure that the right candidate is chosen and the electoral college is abolished.

-Kailyn S
.

 


 

Email your answers. They will be posted pending editorial review. Only well-stated, appropriate responses will be considered.

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