The US electoral college is used to select the president. The system has many strengths, including that candidates are able to campaign in several states and not just one. The electoral system is not without its flaws. It can lead to safe seats and the outcome can be unrepresentative. Smaller states may also have an disproportionate amount of influence.
The Electoral College system encourages candidates to campaign widely. Trump’s campaigning in 2016 was more extensive than Hilary’s, including small states like Maine and Nebraska. It is believed that this helped him win the election. The electoral college encourages campaigns in smaller states since the winner has visited more states. The Electoral College produces safe seats, which is a weakness. Safe seats are created by states like California, which consistently votes Democrat or Alabama, which votes Republican. There is less competition in seats that consistently vote one way. Candidates do not think they have a chance to win. Florida, for instance, has a high level of competition and is highly contested. Therefore, candidates tend to focus their campaigns in these states rather than in the safe states.
The electoral college is also unrepresentative. Hillary Clinton’s 232 Electoral College voted in 2016 was less than Trump’s 306 Ecv despite her winning the popular votes by 2.86 millions ballots. The Electoral colleges are therefore not representative of public opinion and do not represent the wishes expressed by the voters.
The electoral college also has a weakness because it gives an excessive amount of power to small states. Wyoming is a state that has a low population and it has 3ECV. If the proportion of population used in calculating votes for California was 180, instead of just 55, then this shows how weak the electoral college system is. The fact that each state has a minimum of 3 ECV gives smaller states an unfair advantage in the outcome of elections.
