The Electoral College is an indirect system for electing the President and Vice-Presidents of the United States. The College itself is 538 people, each representing a particular state, thereby expressing the people’s will. However, despite the rich history of this system, there are many questions about it. Experts highlight many positive and negative aspects of the College, as a result of which there is a lengthy debate about the need to abolish, reform, or preserve it.
One of the main arguments for maintaining this system and, therefore, the College’s strengths is the indirect system of elections and electors with federalism principles. The current distribution of votes is consistent with the United States’ state structure since each state uniquely determines its president from all candidates’ total numbers. This aspect also allows us to speak about broad popular support in the president’s election. Thus, in theory, the Collegium defends not only federalism but also democracy.
However, the weakness of the College principle is the strange mathematics of vote counting, in which the vote of people in different states has a different weight. Thus, a resident of a densely populated state is much less likely to influence the elections than a resident of a small state. For example, a resident of the state of California, one of the most densely populated regions of the United States, mathematically has a lower voice weight, and the outcome depends less on it. The same system allows for the possibility of losing by popular vote but winning in the College, as happened, for example, in 2016 with Donald Trump. This outcome is possible due to the different number of electors in the states whose votes are decisive in the presidential struggle.
Thus, in my opinion, the Electoral College must be reformed and undergo changes that will allow it to be more democratic. Although this body should represent the people’s will, there is a possibility of bribery. Besides, voters’ inequality and the varying degree of influence of people on the vote is contrary to the democratic principles of the United States. Finally, entrenched voting traditions make it difficult to portray reality, as in the Democratic state of New York, where Democratic influence is too strong. Therefore, to create a fairer electoral system, it is necessary to reform the College to be more in line with democratic principles.