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Seventh-Graders Answer: Should the Electoral College be Abolished?Students from the seventh grade at Holy Family Academy in Bound Brook, NJ give their comments in this editorial on the November 2004 presidential election. Our ThoughtsThe Electoral College is no longer the fairest way to elect the President of the United States. As established by the Constitution, the law of the land, each state is given a number of electoral college votes according to the number of senators (2) and representatives (according to each state's population). The problems with this method- as we see them are: although the United States is a democracy which is the rule of the majority of the people- the president may be elected without winning the popular vote; some people don't vote if they live in a state which is heavily democratic or republican as they assume their votes will not count; and finally in the year 2000 the state of Florida was involved in a dispute over the proper counting of ballots as well as flawed ballots which held up the announcement of the winner. A strong argument for abolishing the Electoral College is that it loses the true meaning of a democracy. It is hard to understand why a candidate who may receive a tremendous number of popular votes may lose the election. If a candidate wins the states of California, Texas, and New York- which send the greatest number of electoral delegates to each of the state capitals- then in campaigning he/she seems to play favorites and to almost ignore states like Alaska, which has only three delegates. It seems only good campaigning to reach the states with the votes to get the candidate over the top. Another problem is the feeling that some people have that their Democratic vote in a highly Republican state will not make a difference. The right to vote is a privilege and if the popular vote does not count the people are being denied a constitutional right. The constitution has spelled out the selecting of the president, and it has been modified by the 12th, 22nd, and 23rd amendments.* The process has been changed over the years, but the electoral college system has been used in every election with the exception of George Washington, who was unopposed in his second term. Further drawbacks are the questions which arise over the validity of the voting places. In November 2000, the democrats demanded a recount of the vote in Florida to prove its accuracy. There were questions about inaccurate ballots and votes which didn't get counted. Finally, the Supreme Court put limitations on the time allotted and days after the election the win went to the republican, George W. Bush. The state's votes gave Bush the 270 votes needed to win the Electoral College's assigned delegates. In conclusion, don't you agree the Electoral College should be abolished? In this twenty-first century with all the changes that have taken place in our country there is a need for all the people over the age of eighteen to feel that their vote does count. It's time for another amendment to the Constitution as this is the only way to change this no longer fair way to elect our president. *Amendments *"We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
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