It’s Time to Abolish the Electoral College and Introduce Ranked-Choice Voting
The United States is a nation founded upon representative democracy. Voters in all states are free to directly vote for their Representatives and Senators to represent them and their state in Congress. However, a right that is denied from U.S. is the right to directly vote for the president.
American voters should not be denied the right to vote for the leader of their country in what is seen by many as the most important election during election season. The suppressive voting system under the Electoral College needs to be abolished and replaced with a system that allows voters to have a direct say in voting for president: ranked-choice voting.
Historically, the electoral college was designed as a buffer between the American people and the government. The founders of the system believed that the American public were unqualified to choose the president and that a separate group of skilled experts could choose the president for them.
Under the electoral college system, the votes, and voices, of millions are eligible to be suppressed. Due to the fact that 48 of the 50 states follow the general ticket, or winner-take-all, system, tens of millions of people are subject to be silenced under the electoral college. As little as one vote in a particular state can tip the scales in one particular candidate’s favor, win them all votes in that state, and effectively erase the votes made for that candidate’s opposition.
Supporters of the electoral college may claim that the system prevents cities from having a larger say over the president than less populous and more rural areas. However, the electoral college steps further than this “prevention” and because of this system, some smaller areas such as Wyoming have more representation than large states like California or New York.This speculation made by supporters of the electoral college is a fallacy known as an unwarranted assumption, as this conclusion made by the electoral college’s supporters is an assumption made without evidence or reasoning.
Under a system such as ranked-choice voting, American voters would have a direct say in who becomes the president of the United States. Voters would be able to rank candidates in order of preference as to be able to vote for who they like without worrying about how their vote might harm another candidate.
