T H E
L I N N - B E N T O N
C O M M U N I T Y
VOL. 52 EDITION 3
C O L L E G E
OC T. 1 4, 2020
S E O D UR YO TE ? VO ER T T A M
Voting Is Important to Partake in, But Why? STORY BY BRENDA AUTRY The 2020 presidential election is just a few weeks away, and many people, especially first time voters, are asking themselves, “Does my vote even matter?” The short answer is, yes, it does. But the way your vote affects the outcome of an election may be a little confusing. The U.S. Presidential Election is actually a two-step process. First, each registered voter casts their vote for one presidential candidate. This candidate usually belongs to one of the two main political parties – Democrat of Republican. There are other party candidates, however, no third party candidate has ever been elected. Even though you choose a presidential candidate on your ballot, your vote is actually used
to elect someone who will cast a presidential vote on your behalf. These people are known as electors and they make up what is known as the Electoral College. In most states, excluding Maine and Nebraska who use the congressional district method, electors are determined by a ”winner-takes-all” system where the state’s popular vote determines its Electoral College. For example, if the majority of voters in Oregon voted for the Republican candidate, they would actually be voting for a group of electors who are nominated by the Republican party's State Legislature, and who have pledged to cast their electoral votes for the Republican candidate. Each state has a set number of electors which is equal to the number of representatives plus two electors for the senators the state has in the U.S. Congress. There are a total of 538 electors – 435 representatives, 100
senators, and three electors from Washington D.C.. Oregon has a total of seven electoral votes. After the general election, each elector casts one vote for president. A candidate must have at least 270 electoral votes to be elected. Thirty-three states – Oregon included – require their electors to vote for their promised candidate. However, some “faithless electors” have voted for other candidates, or refrained from voting. In most of these states, there is no penalty or mechanism to prevent the deviant vote for counting as cast. However, five of these states provide a penalty of some sort for a deviant vote, and 14 states provide for the deviant vote to be canceled or the elector to be replaced. The Electoral College was created during the 1787 Constitutional Convention as a compromise between a popular vote and a congressional election.
Even though the electoral vote and the popular vote are usually in agreement, there have been five times a candidate has won the popular vote and lost the election. Andrew Jackson in 1824, Samuel Tilden in 1876, Grover Cleveland in 1888, Al Gore in 2000, and Hillary Clinton in 2016 all won the popular vote but lost the election. Because of this, many people believe that the Electoral College should be abolished and the popular vote should determine an election. However, changing the Electoral College would require an amendment to the constitution, which requires a two thirds majority vote in both the House and the Senate – a feat many experts don’t expect any time soon. Even though your vote may not directly determine who the next president will be, every vote matters! So, make sure your voice is heard – vote!
Inside this Edition
Graphics by: freepik.com
STUDENT FIREFIGHTERS
SEE PAGE 2
BRAVER ANGELS DEBATE
SEE PAGE 3
OUT AND ABOUT
SEE PAGE 4-5