FREE ESSAY ON ELECTION PROCESS

ELECTION PROCESS

The presidential election process is a long and complicated procedure. Currently, we elect
our president and vice-president by an indirect device known as the Electoral College.
Under this system, each state has as many electors as it has representatives and
senators. Candidates who win a plurality of the popular vote in a state secure all the
states electoral votes. In order to win a presidential election, a candidate must appeal
successfully to the big states, such as California and Texas. Many people are
dissatisfied with are country's current election process. A candidate could win the
popular vote but lose the electoral vote, and thus lose the presidency. This method has
led to a lot of controversy and may eventually lead to election reforms.
One proposal concerning the presidential election process is to have a single national
primary four months before the final election. Currently, there is a very tight
presidential primary schedule. This process generally favors the candidate with the most
financial backing. In this years primary season, there is a massive amount of primaries
held on March 7. Shortly following these primaries is an even bigger barrage of caucuses
and primaries. This greatly favors the candidate with the most money, for he will be able
to spread his ideas to many states in a short amount of time. A candidate with vast
resources will not even have to campaign in every state because his state party
establishments do the necessary things to make sure the voters hear their platform. The
present alignment of state primaries is rather ineffective due to the tight schedule.
Having a single national primary four months before the election seems like an
appropriate alternative to the current system. This would give all of the candidates
enough time to effectively campaign. Additionally, it would abolish the problem of states
holding useless primaries. Primaries that occur after the nominee is determined are
pointless. One national primary would eliminate this problem. However, a downfall of this
proposal, is that a majority of the people would not be interested in the election, being
that it is four months away. Many voters might end up voting for the candidate in their
party due to the lack of interest in the long primary. 
A second reform to the election process is to have a general election in November with
the winner being determined by the national popular vote. Under our current system, a
candidate could win the state of California by only one vote, and would still be awarded
all 54 electoral votes for that state. This method makes no sense at all and must be
reformed. An additional downfall to this method, is that candidate's end up concentrating
on states where there is no definite winner. States that are seen as definite wins for
either side are ignored, while states that are up in the air are severely concentrated
on. If the popular vote were to determine the president, then the candidates would spend
a great deal of time campaigning in every state. They would try to gain votes in every
state because the votes for each state would be a significant factor in the outcome of
the election. A popular vote would force the candidates to address every regions issues.
The final reform method is to have a general election in November with the winner in each
congressional district receiving one electoral vote and the state-wide winner getting two
more electoral votes for carrying the state. This method is very similar to the current
Electoral College. Since many districts are mainly occupied by a respective party, it
would cause the same problems as our current system. Once again, some districts would be
heavily campaigned and others would be disregarded. This setup would force candidates to
focus on each individual district, and would also make the candidates ignore the issues
of the entire state. This process also doesn't solve our current problem; the popular
vote does not determine the winner of the election. I think this format would only bring
about more problems to our current system. Questions like who would win if each candidate
tied for the number of districts won, would bring about much controversy. 
It is quite obvious that our current system must be revised. There are simply too many
problems and complications that make the Electoral College an ineffective means of
electing a candidate to office. Personally, I think that the power should be in the hands
of the people. The president should be elected based on the popular vote. These are the
people who will be most affected by the nomination of the president. The people are
capable of nominating an effective candidate to office. Although many people argue that
there are too many ignorant people who simply vote to vote, there has been a change in
current years. The media coverage of the election is so extensive, that it is nearly
impossible for the people to ignore the issues and platforms of the election. The
government should have trust in the people, for they are the ones that truly hold the
power.