10 | Wednesday, November 18, 2020
OPINION NEWS
GINA MEDINA, EDITOR
THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM/OPINION
@THEDAILYCOUGAR
VOTING
The Electoral College is an archaic practice and desperately needs an update CHIRAG MANGNAIK
Wyoming has 3.37 times the voting power of the average voter from Texas. Voters living in the most heavily populated states of the country often have a far lower influence on the election than voters living in states with low populations.
STAFF COLUMNIST
Though the election is essentially over, the arguments regarding the Electoral College remain ever present. Yet again in the 2020 election, the vote over the most powerful position in the world was decided by a handful of key states. The Electoral College and the winner-take-all system lead to the electoral process being decided by a small group of people, even though the difference in the popular vote was over five million. This system is outdated and a product of a bygone era and should be replaced with the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact for a return to democracy.
The Electoral College The Electoral College is a body of 538 electors; one for each seat in the House of Representatives and one for each seat in the Senate, as well as three electors for Washington, D.C. Every state has a number of seats in the House of Representatives that’s almost proportional to their population. However, each state, regardless
Winner takes all
Renee Josse de Lisle/The Cougar
of population, has two seats in the Senate. For any given state’s members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the state has an electoral vote for the presidential election. For instance, Texas has 36 seats in the House of Representatives and two seats in the Senate and, as such, has 38 electoral votes. When people vote within a state, a presidential candidate is
decided upon by a popular vote. Most states, with a few notable exceptions, award all its electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate won the popular vote within the state. Finally, when all of the state electors have cast their votes, whichever candidate has the most electoral votes wins the presidential election. There are two big issues with this system. The first is the
issue of each state receiving two electoral votes by default because of the Senate. This throws off the proportionality of the system, resulting in people in smaller states having more power behind their vote simply because they live in a less populous state.
Unequal voter power According to Chris Kirk from Slate, the average voter from
However, that’s not the only problem with the system. The other big problem is the winnertakes-all system within all but two states, Maine and Nebraska. The winner-takes-all system is where all the electors in a state vote for the winner of the statewide popular vote instead of distributing them proportionally. Because of this, it’s possible for a candidate to narrowly win half the states and lose all the other states and still win the presidency. In fact, it’s possible to win the presidential election with a mere 23 percent of the popular vote largely because of the winnertake-all system. In 2016, Trump won Texas by a slim 9 percent margin. In a proper representative
ELECTORAL COLLEGE
Continues on page 11
POLITICS
The Divided States of America: It is time for us to heal the wounds of hate GINA MEDINA
OPINION EDITOR @ITSGINA_M
It seems like most of the world sighed with relief when it was announced that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are projected to become the next president and vice president, respectively. However, there are still people, including President Donald Trump, who are in disbelief of the election results. The nation has been divided for too long and it has grown more distant over the past few years. Although we are a nation derived from unity, we have strayed so far from each other that we no longer uphold the name of our country. The election results are just one more fact that has become an opinion, much like the effectiveness of face masks and the human rights of others. Our nation has been misguided and fractured by the one person who has sworn to protect it. It is time for us to
become one again and move past the antagonism. President-elect Biden emphasized in his victory speech that this was the time for healing in this nation and that he will “work as hard for those who didn’t vote for (him) as for those who did.” This is exactly the message of unity and hope that the nation has needs. While President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris might not be the ideal, they appear to be more promising candidates who will attempt to reverse the damage of hate and division in the country. Politics have been so polarized for so long that a Mississippi lawmaker threatened to secede from the nation upon Biden’s election. He has since apologized and deleted the tweet, however the instantaneous reaction of hate and denial is why we need to rid ourselves of the hostility. However, we need to ensure that we are not attempting to
After years of internal turmoil, the U.S. is ready to become one again. With new leadership in place, there is more hope than ever before. | Christopher Charleston/The Cougar
After years of internal turmoil, the U.S. is ready to become one again. With new leadership in place, there is more hope than ever before. | Christopher Charleston/The Cougar
bring peace by compromising on issues that should not even be up for debate. We need to keep the momentum that we have built over the last few months
and continue to push our representatives to create legislation that reflects our needs, not their compromises. We need to keep the good and work together to move towards
a more respectful and kind country. Gina Medina is a journalism senior who can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com
