Julia, Sam, Ed and Chris

10/16/08
History Earth- Position Paper

The way the Electoral College is currently in action is both

inefficient and not relatable. By calculating the votes on a district-to-

district basis as opposed to a state-to-state basis, the voters will feel as

if they have more of a say when they make their decisions. This does

not mean eliminating the Electoral College. This does not mean basing

the presidential election solely on popular vote. This only means

tweaking the current system to raise voter morale as well as overall

efficiency. By revoking the 12th amendment of the Electoral College

voting system, a new system of district-to-district voting would be put

into place, changing the system itself and the emotions of the voters.

The amounts of people that don’t vote in America are due to the

fact of voters feeling as if they don’t count. If the majority of a state is

going one way, but a single voters vote is leaning towards an opposite

candidate, the voter will feel less inclined to vote; feeling like that vote

won’t make any difference at all in the election. This is affecting many

people throughout the nation, especially the youth. In the last election

New York was ranked the state with the highest number of registered

18-24 year old voters. The percentage of voters registered: 42%. One

of the states ranked the HIGHEST still had less than half of the youth

population voting. Across the country, 43% of 18-24 year old women
voted and 40% of 18-24 year old men voted. This just shows that the

current system designed for voting is not making people feel like their

vote counts or that they can make any kind of difference.

Currently, two states in the country have already appealed the

state-to-state Electoral process. Both Nebraska and Maine use a

district-to-district vote basis. In the 2000 election, Maine was ranked

one of the states with the highest voter turnout at 65%. Clearly, voters

see a difference and feel a difference in this system.

The main difference between this new voting system and the

other are population and area based. For example, Pennsylvania has

21 electoral votes to give out, representing 19 districts and 2 senators.

Once the votes of the people are places, the higher average of the

states total gives all of those 21 votes to the candidate with the higher

percentage. This covers such a large amount of people that voters are

beginning to feel so minute in the voting process. With a district-to-

district basis, using Pennsylvania as an example again, if 7 districts

went Republican and 12 districts went Democrat, then those points

would each be given to the respective party. This would give voters a

feel of being more involved. As far as counting the senators votes, that

would still be kept on a state-to-state basis. Using that same example,

if 7districts went Republican, 12 went Democrat, then the 2 senator

votes would go with the majority and vote Democrat for the state of

Pennsylvania.
 Having this system put into place would change the feelings of

the American voters. It would increase the percentage of American’s

who vote and would give a more accurate representation of which

candidate “the people” want leading their democracy. If change needs

to come with a new leader and that change is in the hands of the

American people, then the change first needs to happen with a better

system of how the voices are being heard.

Sources:

1. Baptiste, Jessica. "Why Young People Don't Vote." 09/27/04 17

Oct 2008

<http://media.www.theticker.org/media/storage/paper909/news/2

004/09/27/Opinion/Why-Young.People.Dont.Vote-

1780596.shtml>.

2. Smathers, Jason. "Laid-back registration feel in Wisconsin could

become a hassle Nov. 4." Youth Vote '08. 08/10/08. CNN. 17 Oct

2008 <http://www.youthvoteblog.com/2008/10/08/laid-

back_registration_efforts_in_wisconsin_could_be_a_hassle_nov_4/

>.

3. "Electoral College (United States)." Wikipedia. 2008. 17 Oct 2008

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_(United_States)>