a one thousand dollar fine. It is, however, quite rare for an elector to change his or her vote – since electors are usually party loyalists. In all of US history, only nine of some 18,000 electors have broken their pledge. And no elector has ever been prosecuted for doing so.Proponents of the Electoral College insist that the system has been working for more than two centuries and that it embodies the genius of our founding fathers. The system ensures that rural and low populated towns are given appropriate attention and candidates don’t just focus on big cities. The system makes it necessary for parties to run separate campaigns for each state. Therefore, a candidate requires a distribution of popular support. Furthermore, the Electoral College has the backing of gun rights supporters and farmers because of their concentration in primarily rural parts of the country. They argue that an election determined by a national popular vote would destroy the already weakened two party system. This would inevitably give rise to wealthy eccentrics and enthusiasts who would jump in the candidate hot seat. Moreover, in a close election decided by a direct popular vote, recounts would be in many states rather than one or two. Just imagine if our current election were this way, and the hand recounts weren’t just in Florida, but in the entire country. Supporters of the Electoral College contend that it would be more problematic than helpful.Polls taken from Americans over the past thirty years consistently indicate that the majority of the country favors the removal of the Electoral College. More proposals have been made to amend the constitution’s Electoral College than any other issue (NARA 8). Especially in light of the recent election, people just can’t accept that a candidate could win the popular vote of the country and still lose the presidency. This is the major issue with the College. How could we possibly elec...
