By Eric M.

On November 9, 2016, Republican Donald Trump was elected as the 45th president of the United States of America, defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton by a margin of 77 electoral votes. However, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, getting 2,868,691 more votes than Trump. So, even though Donald Trump got elected as the president, the majority of the U.S. did not vote for him. This begs the question: should we change the way that we elect presidents?

To start this debate, we have to realize that the reason the electoral college was established in the first place: to safeguard against uneducated or uninformed voters by giving the final power to electors who had the knowledge to make the right decision; ensuring that the voices of the masses could not drown out minority interests; and and forming a compromise between the Congress and popular vote determining the next president.

However, the former and main reason this system was made for is no longer relevant in the modern society. Voters now have technology that enables them to get the necessary information to make the correct decisions.

Some people believe that this electoral college voting system is the right way to elect presidents because if the presidential race was just determined by the popular vote, then smaller and less populous states’ citizens will not really have an impact on the election while larger and more populous states will have a huge impact on the election.

Still, this system can actually grant those less populous states’ residents more power than the more populous states. For example, a voter in Wyoming has more than 3.6 times more power than a voter in New York. The three electors in Wyoming represent, on average, about 143,000 voters each, while the thirty-one electors in New York represent, on average, about 519,000 voters each. So, voters in less populous states have more power than voters in more populous states.

Several people disagree with this system of electing the commander-in-chief of our nation. “We’re built on how everyone has a voice, everyone’s voice should be heard. So, for example, people host campaigns in swing states like Ohio or Pennsylvania, but they should focus on large places of population that aren’t yet for then and should be for them. They should focus not on swing states, but on the people,” said Sina S. when asked about this issue, touching back upon the previous issue.

“Lots of people have more access to information now, and when they created the electoral college not many people had access to the information they needed to decide which candidate was best, so they need to come up with a more modern system to elect presidents,” said Saarang B. on the topic.

On the other hand, a few people do agree with this system. An anonymous person commented on how it was created for a very reasonable cause and gave all people equal power, so “it is really well-made for that purpose and so…it’s good.”

Should we change the way that we elect presidents of this country? There are people arguing on both sides. Nevertheless, the debate continues for whether or not the electoral college voting system is the right way to elect presidents.