winner-take-all system, is the method by which each state chooses its own electors (Glennon 13). However, the framers originally intended electors to be chosen by the people and then vote for what they thought was best. This winner take all system had turned the electors into "mere mandarin toys that nod when set in motion," according to Professor Lucius Wilmerding (Glennon 13). There are two states that still use the district system, but the remaining 48 states use the general ticket system ("Electoral" 256). When all votes are counted on December 18th of the election year, if a candidate gets more than half the votes, he/she becomes the new president. If there is no majority then the election gets thrown into the House of Representatives. There each state is given one vote and they vote on the top three candidates. If a candidate gets a majority vote, then he/she becomes president. If not they continue voting until a majority is reached and the speaker of the house becomes a temporary president until a majority is reached (Glennon 45). As I see it there are three problems to the current Electoral College system. First a president can be elected to office even if it is not what the people want. Another problem is that electors are not punished for being unfaithful to what they have pledged. And finally the system for electing a president if no electoral majority is reached. Under the assumption that all states used the general ticket system, all electors were faithful, there are only two candidates, and if a candidate lost a state the candidate received no votes, then a president could be elected with only 22% of the national popular vote. If there were three candidates, it would require only a 15% popular vote. This is because the thirty-nine smaller states in the US have a much proportionally larger vote than the larger states. And if a president received 49% of the vote in a state, he could walk away with nothing to show for it in...
