The Electoral College was created as a buffer between the populous and the executive branch of government, while attempting to give a share of power to the smaller states. However, in last week's election, President Barack Obama scored 332 electoral votes, to Mitt Romney's 206, yet the president scored only 51 percent of the popular vote to Romney's 48 percent. Do you think the Electoral College is an effective means of electing our president? Is there another method?
*

Daniel Marks '14

Although the Electoral College is a major element of the American political system, its results do not accurately represent the view of the entire country and can reduce voter turnout. Eligible voters may stay home on election day because they believe their votes won't count when a state tends to sway toward the other political party. Furthermore, if a state is worth an insignificant amount of Electoral College votes, there isn't an incentive to vote. If the popular vote decided the election, a vote in Alaska would count just as much as one in every other state. This may result in many more active voters and an election in which the candidates would campaign in a greater variety of states, instead of just Ohio and Florida.
 
Daniel Marks '14 is an undergraduate departmental representative for the Politics Department and the Ziv Quad senator in the Student Union.

Clifton Masdea '15

While I understand that the Electoral College was intended to give all states a voice in determining who the next president will be, I do think more needs to be done to guarantee that all voters' voices are heard. The winner-take-all notion of the electoral votes per state not only narrows the campaigns to major swing states such as Ohio and Florida, but it also does not take into account voter suppression laws that unfairly target people of color, students and low-income individuals. It also does not leave room for third-party candidates whom many voters would vote for if the Electoral College were not biased toward the two-party system. While I am not against the Electoral College system itself, I do think more needs to be done to make sure that no voter feels marginalized.

Clifton Masdea '15 is a member of Students for a Democratic Society.

Ryan LaRochelle

While some of the constitutional architects may have intended for the Electoral College to protect the interests of small states, contemporary political science research demonstrates that this is not the case. The Electoral College creates a system that encourages candidates to focus the bulk of their attention-advertising money, campaign visits and speeches-on competitive battleground states, regardless of size. Citizens in states that are deemed electorally non-competitive receive far less information about the candidates and their policy plans. I would propose that the states adopt a proportional plan whereby each state's electoral votes are allocated according to the popular vote in the state. However, every state would have to adopt this system for it to be effective. I believe that this system would better reflect the diversity of views among the American electorate and encourage citizens to vote for third party and independent candidates who may be more closely aligned with their individual political views.
 
Ryan Larochelle is a Ph.D. student in Politics.

Fred Berger '15


The Electoral College is an effective means of electing our president, even though it has undemocratic elements embedded within it. Firstly, the Electoral College allocates the amount of electoral votes a state receives on the basis of the number of people within a state. Therefore, more populous states receive more electoral votes. Secondly, in every election there are "battleground states," like Ohio and Florida, that aren't either firmly Democrat or Republican that can almost declare the outcome of an election. These states receive a disproportionate amount of campaign resources, whether through advertisements or the candidate visiting the state multiple times. While this increases voter turnout and civic engagement in the battleground states, voters in the non-battleground states can be drawn to feel isolated. In seeking to rectify the Electoral College, creating a system that increases voter involvement, voter turnout and makes all votes equally important is what we need to and should adopt.

Fred Berger '15 is the public relations director of the Brandeis' College Democrats and the Live music coordinator for WBRS.

*



*