Voting and the Significance of the Electoral College

A democracy is a government run by the people. Each citizen has a say or vote in how the government is run. This is different from a monarchy or dictatorship where as one person, like a king or a dictator have all the power. There are two main types of democracies, direct and representative. A direct democracy is when every citizen vote on all important decisions. One of the first direct democracies was in Athens, Greece. All the citizens would gather to vote in the main square on major issues. A direct democracy becomes difficult when the population grows. Imagine the 300 million people of the United States trying to get together in one place to decide an issue. It would be impossible. The other type of democracy is a representative democracy. This is where the people elect representatives to run the government. Another name for this type of democracy is a democratic republic. The United States is a representative democracy. The citizens elect representatives such as the president, members of congress, and senators to run the government. The United States is an indirect democracy. Although each citizen only has a small say, they do have some say in how the government is run and who runs the government. A citizen has a say in government through voting. Citizens voicer's has been slightly quieted through the difficulties in voting. By voting, we are making our voice heard and registering our opinion on how we think the government should work. The 2016 election was my first year to vote. Since I am a democrat, I chose to vote for Hillary Clinton. I personally dont think she was the best candidate for the democratic party. This was because she had too many scandals, for example the classified emails that she had sent to her private server, and with what happened in Benghazi. However, I think that these issues were very small in comparison to all the scandals and views than the Republican nominee, Donald Trump. Unfortunately, Trump won the electoral college which leads to my belief that this election was unfair and did not reflect the true views of this country. I believe this because although he may have won the electoral college, he significantly lost the popular vote, which represents every single person in this country. The Electoral College process consists of the selection of the electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress. With the electoral college in place, we are not truly voting for who we want as President, we are voting for others to make that decision for us. If it werent for the electoral college, this election would have had a different result and we would have Hillary Clinton as President. Having the electoral college also takes away the fundamental ideal of this country, which is democracy because we are not able to directly choose who we want to lead and be the face of our country, which is one of the most important decisions we can make. The electoral college allows a candidate to receive a stater's entire electoral voters while only winning 50 percent of the stater's votes. Those who voted for another parties candidates vote is basically discarded in that same state. Since electors are given based on states population candidates only need to win key states to be elected for the presidency. Four times in the past a candidate has won the electoral college and not the popular vote, 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes, 1888 Benjamin Harrison, 2000 George W. Bush, and 2016 Donald Trump. Due to this, I believe the electoral college should be removed. Back when the country was first founded, the founding fathers thought that this was the best way to elect our President because it gave states that were less populated a larger voice in the election. In my opinion, this system is flawed. For example, if you are a democrat living in a state that leans towards the republican party, on election day, that state will end up electing a representative for the electoral college that will vote republican, therefore your vote is practically meaningless. In the popular vote, your vote will count in the presidential election. I believe we should follow in the footsteps of countries like France. In France, their population vote directly for President and this doesnt cause any problems for them. Therefore, I think we should remove the electoral college and make who we elect president depend on the popular vote alone. In this country the way people vote is based on their political party. Although we often only hear of two, the democrats and the republicans there are many more, these are referred to as third parties. There are many reason why a person might choose one party as opposed to the others. These reasons may include religious affiliations, political views and views on human rights. For example, someone who is conservative and believes in less government control over the economy may lean more towards the republican party. I chose to register as a democrat when I registered to vote because I consider myself a liberal and most of my views on government and human rights a line with what the democratic party represents and stands for. Liberals general believe in governmental action to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all, and that it is the duty of the government to reduce community issues and to protect civil liberties and individual and human rights. Also believe the role of the government should be to guarantee that no one is in need. These beliefs are why I consider myself to be a liberal and a democrat. Although people often vote for the candidate of their political party, if that candidater's views steer from their ideals the people may choose to vote for another partyr's candidate. This happened in the republican party in the 2016 election. Donald Trump said many things and acted in a way that was very different from typical republican views. As a result, people started to question whether they would vote republican and republican leaders hesitated or refused to support him. Ultimately those republicans who did choose to vote for another candidate were not enough to make republicans lose the presidency. A lack of younger voters is another problem that causes fewer voices in voting. Voter turn out between older and younger people Countries like Australia and Singapore voting is mandatory, the countries that report significant voter turnout rates are ones like Afghanistan (84 percent for the nation's first presidential election in 2004) and Kenya (86 percent for 2013 presidential election), according to IDEA. Government records are the only source of voter participation rates, which can raise questions about unusually high turnout numbers reported by countries with a history of autocracy and corruption. But Afghanistan and Kenya are countries "where voting is viewed as critical to evolution of a democracy, where voting is viewed as essential, where it makes a difference and people believe that the only way their life is going to be better is if they vote in a government that will do that," says John Hardin Young, an election law attorney and adjunct professor of international election principles at William & Mary Law School. Voter participation rates in the U.S. are some of the lowest in the world, especially among the younger population and minority groups I believe young people decide not to vote because they procrastinate and do not register and go out to vote. Also, because they still do not understand the importance of voting since most recently becoming financially independent from their parents and do not feel the economic and importance and impacts from the result of previous presidential elections. For me personally, I believed voting in the 2016 election was important because I did not want Donald Trump to win. I will also continue to vote in the following elections because I know the importance and significance of voting.

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