Posted: October 12th, 2022

Assigned questions to address in your initial post:

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For this discussion assignment you will be required to make at least two posts: one initial post and one reply post. Both posts must be made by the assignment due date.
Make your initial post by addressing each of the assigned questions below after reading about the discussion topic. See how to make your reply post in the instructions below.
Discussion Topic:
The topic for this class discussion assignment is a further look at the Electoral College method of selecting the U.S. president as head of the executive branch. You learned in a recent lesson that the U.S. Constitution specifies this method for electing the president. It was chosen by the Framers of the constitution for a few reasons. One reason was the concern that average American citizens at that time were not qualified to select the president because they were not sufficiently informed. There was really very little way for average citizens to become familiar with presidential candidates from various parts of the country because of the remoteness of American life in the 1700s and the lack of communications technology. Most political knowledge among average citizens at that time was extremely localized with little understanding of national or international issues. Smaller population states were also fearful that if the election was based on the nationwide popular vote of citizens, then the process would be dominated by the larger population states and they would be ignored. In particular, Southern slave states were concerned about this because the white voting populations in most of these states were relatively small and they feared election of a president who might support abolishing slavery. So, rather than popular election of the president by the people, the Framers first considered allowing the U.S. Congress to elect the president, but later decided against it out of concerns it would violate the separation of powers between the branches, along with making the process more susceptible to corrupt political behavior. Ultimately, it was decided that electors representing each of the states would be appointed to vote for president. This is how the term Electoral College came into being, even though the term is not mentioned in the constitution. The constitution specifies that the electors of each state are to be appointed in any manner desired by their state legislature.
The number of presidential electors each state has is equal to the number of members the state has in Congress, meaning the House of Representatives and Senate combined (as shown below in the image). The number of representatives each state has in the House of Representatives is based on the state’s population. Thus, states with larger populations have more members in the House than smaller states. For example, Florida currently has 27 members in the House, while Alabama has only 9. In the Senate, however, every state has two senators regardless of population size. Florida has 2 senators and Alabama has 2 senators. So, Florida has a total of 29 electoral votes for president, while Alabama has 11. Florida has a population of 20 million, while Alabama has a population of only 5 million. So each one of Florida’s 29 electoral votes for president in the Electoral College represents about 689,000 people (20 million divided by 29), whereas each one of Alabama’s electoral votes represents only 555,000 people. In other words, the vote of 555,000 Alabamians for president counts the same as 689,000 Floridians, a 24% difference. In fact, the smaller a state’s population is, the greater weight its votes have in the Electoral College. This is how smaller states are overrepresented in presidential elections, and it was done by design by the Framers of the constitution to address the fears of smaller population states that they would be ignored if the election was simply based on a nationwide popular vote. It is also the reason why it is possible for a presidential candidate who receives the most votes nationwide to lose the election in the Electoral College, which has happened five times in American history, including as recently as the 2016 and 2000 presidential elections.
The constitution leaves it up to each of the 50 state legislatures to determine how they will select their appointed number of electors who will vote for president in the Electoral College. Using the state of Florida as an example, it is the Florida State Legislature in Tallahassee that decides. During the early part of American history, the state legislatures simply appointed leading citizens of their states to be the electors. The constitution prohibits any member of Congress or officials of the federal government from being appointed an elector. Eventually, every state legislature passed laws requiring their state’s presidential electors to be chosen by the citizen voters of the state. You probably don’t realize it, but when you go to vote for president on election day, you are not actually voting directly for the presidential candidate, but instead you are voting for the electors chosen by each of the political parties. For example, Florida has 29 electoral votes for president, so the Florida Republican Party selects 29 of its members to be presidential electors and the Florida Democratic Party selects 29 of its members to be presidential electors. You don’t actually see the names of the electors on the ballot when you vote for president. You see only the names of the presidential candidates, but in reality you are voting for the slate of 29 electors who are committed to voting for the presidential candidate of your choice when they vote in the Electoral College. Whichever presidential candidate receives the most votes by the people of Florida on election day determines which party’s slate of 29 electors will get to vote for president in the Electoral College on behalf of the state of Florida. If the Democratic Party’s candidate receives the most votes by the people of Florida, then the Democratic Party’s slate of 29 electors will get to vote for president in the Electoral College and vice versa if the Republican Party’s candidate receives the most votes. It works the same way in other states. The final election results in each state also must be certified as true and valid by the governor and Secretary of State of each state before the electors can cast their votes in the Electoral College. The electors from each of the 50 states then meet in their respective state capitals 41 days after the November election day to cast their votes for president in the Electoral College. This provides time for any disputed election results in any state to be resolved before the electors meet to vote. As you know, when the electors do cast their votes in the Electoral College it takes 270 electoral votes to win the presidential election, which is a majority of the 538 total electoral votes available across the 50 states and Washington, D.C.
This is how our presidential election works. Simple, right? Of course, it is not simple, and that is why so many Americans don’t understand it, which is also what gives rise to conspiracy theories that promote the idea that the American people aren’t the ones selecting the president. But, in fact, it is the American people who select the president because it is their votes on election day that determine which of their state’s electors will vote in the Electoral College. Whether or not this is the best way to elect the president is certainly debatable. Many believe the state-by-state Electoral College method is outdated and believe the election should be determined simply by whoever receives the most votes by the American people on election day in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. combined. After considering the assigned questions below, make your initial post in the discussion forum.
Presidential Electoral Votes by State
electoral map.png
Assigned Questions to Address in Your Initial Post:
1.Do you believe the Electoral College method is a fair way to elect the president and that it accurately reflects the will of the American people? Explain and give at least two reasons to support your position. This question is only about the method of electing the president as specified in the constitution and as described above. It is NOT about debating any allegations of election fraud in 2020. If you make it about that, then you will lose all points for your initial post.
2. Do you believe the Electoral College of electing the president gives a greater advantage to one political party over the other? Explain why or why not?
3. Would you be in favor of changing the process of electing the president to have the winner determined simply by whichever candidate receives the most votes by the people nationwide (known as the national popular vote) instead of using the Electoral College method? Why or why not?
INSTRUCTIONS:

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