In the United States, the public does not choose the supreme leader, the president, but the Electoral College decides. These are electoral votes. In many states, vote share is so high that there is concern that a candidate might lose even if the popular vote is high. In America, everyone from George W. Bush to Donald Trump could win because of it.
What is the Electoral College?
This is a body formed by popular vote to elect the President and Vice President of the United States. It can also be understood that the public selects some officials, and these officials are the electors. Together they form the Electoral College.
There are currently 538 voters. A candidate needs the support of 270 of them to gain a majority. These members are also elected based on the state’s population. This means that if a state has more people, it will also have more voters so that the needs of the population are properly represented. For example, California has a maximum of 54 electors, while smaller states like Alaska and Delaware only have 3 electors.
What multiplication did both sides do?
Since the task of deciding victory lies with the Electoral College rather than the popular vote, political parties apply different mathematical methods in this regard. The votes of 270 electors are enough to serve as president. No matter which party wins in any state, all electors will belong to that party. This means that if the party focuses on the big powers, its chances of winning increase. That’s why both major parties target certain states and court voters there so that if they win, their membership in the Electoral College will increase. This system has been operating in the United States since the 18th century.
The electors were created to treat slaves as less than ordinary citizens.
The United States began implementing the Electoral College system in 1787. There is also a long-term hesitation behind this. The framers of the Constitution could not decide what was the correct way to elect a president, in which everything was transparent. Some representatives suggested that the people directly elect the president, but this proposal was rejected many times. One of the main reasons for rejecting the agreement was that it considered five slaves to be equivalent to three votes. Let us tell you, there was slavery in America at that time. Southern states had more slaves. The North wanted slaves to give up voting, while Southern states insisted on including slaves to vote so that the South would have more power in Congress.
Eventually a three-fifths agreement was reached. Here, the votes of five slaves count as three votes. Now, with more slaves, the U.S. representatives were worried that none of their representatives would be able to enter Congress. This is why electoral institutions were established. This system has continued since then.
In this system, because the electoral votes (i.e., the votes from a specific state) are important rather than the popular vote (i.e., votes from across the country), many times, if you don’t win in a more populous state, the leader with more votes will Candidates also fail.
In 2000, Gore received more popular votes and George W. Bush received more electoral votes, making him president. Likewise, in 2016, approximately 3 million people across the country voted for Hillary Clinton, but she lost to Donald Trump because Trump held the electoral votes from large states.
There are also many swing states that are not strongholds for either party. Here, whoever exerts greater power, whether Republican or Democratic, is likely to win. Because the tendencies of voters here are constantly changing, both parties are focused on getting voters on their side to increase electoral votes. States such as Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Florida are often swing states.
