Recent Proposals to Reform the Electoral College System

1936 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 924-929
Author(s):  
Joseph E. Kallenbach
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
General Election ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
Electoral College ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
College System

Since the 1932 election, developments have occurred which indicate a growing disposition to simplify the presidential election ballot and suggest that a revision of the mode of electing the chief executive may be eventually realized through constitutional amendment. The so-called “presidential short ballot” reform, which was first adopted in Nebraska in 1917, has moved forward rapidly in recent years. Sixteen states now have enacted statutes eliminating the names of presidential electors from the general election ballot, thus permitting their voters to choose electors by indicating a preference only for a party's presidential candidates.

scholarly journals Beginner Voter Perception of Presidential Candidates (Case Study of the Presidential Election in 2019)

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 795-801
Author(s):  
Syahrur Razy ◽  
Winarno Winarno ◽  
Rusnaini Rusnaini
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Vice President ◽  
Study Data ◽  
General Election ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Study Population ◽  
The Media ◽  
Quantitative Descriptive

In the 2019 general election, the Indonesian people simultaneously elected the President and Vice President and legislative members. The Indonesian people are waiting for who will lead the next five years, especially for the President and Vice President with figures Joko Widodo - Ma'ruf Amin and challenger Prabowo Subianto - Sandiagan Uno. This study aims to determine the perceptions of first-time voters in the two-figure Presidential election in 2019. This study uses a quantitative descriptive study, data obtained from the sample of the study population were analyzed according to the statistical methods used. Descriptive research in this study is intended to get the perception of novice voters at SMAN 5 Surakarta of the presidential candidates in the 2019 general election. There are several things that can affect perceptions about the figure of the President, namely leadership, anti-corruption, welfare, nationalism and change for a more Indonesian state good. All factors are obtained through social media owned by novice voters. Beginner voters in SMAN 5 Surakarta are in the category of critical voters because with knowledge of social media and issues in the media are able to assess whether the prospective leader is eligible to be elected in the general election.

scholarly journals Using Facebook data to predict the 2016 U.S. presidential election

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0253560
Author(s):  
Keng-Chi Chang ◽  
Chun-Fang Chiang ◽  
Ming-Jen Lin
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Revealed Preference ◽  
State Level ◽  
Cointegration Test ◽  
Electoral College ◽  
Popular Vote ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
Actual Vote

We use 19 billion likes on the posts of top 2000 U.S. fan pages on Facebook from 2015 to 2016 to measure the dynamic ideological positions for politicians, news outlets, and users at the national and state levels. We then use these measures to derive support rates for 2016 presidential candidates in all 50 states, to predict the election, and to compare them with state-level polls and actual vote shares. We find that: (1) Assuming that users vote for candidates closer to their own ideological positions, support rates calculated using Facebook predict that Trump will win the electoral college vote while Clinton will win the popular vote. (2) State-level Facebook support rates track state-level polling averages and pass the cointegration test, showing two time series share similar trends. (3) Compared with actual vote shares, polls generally have smaller margin of errors, but polls also often overestimate Clinton’s support in right-leaning states. Overall, we provide a method to forecast elections at low cost, in real time, and based on passively revealed preference and little researcher discretion.

scholarly journals Age Limitations for Presidential Candidates? Exploring Student Perspectives Using Classroom Debates

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 195-196
Author(s):  
Jason Garbarino
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reflective Writing ◽  
United States Constitution ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Public Discussion ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
Writing Assignment

Abstract Ahead of the 2020 Presidential Election, Donald Trump (age 73) and his primary opponent, Joseph Biden (age 76) received extensive criticism regarding the aptness of their candidacies based upon their current ages. While the United States Constitution requires candidates to have “attained the age of thirty-five years”, no age cap for presidential candidates exists. In response to timely public discussion, undergraduate interprofessional gerontology students worked in assigned groups to prepare to debate either in favor of, or in opposition to a constitutional amendment capping the age of presidential candidates. Following classroom debates, course faculty moderated in-depth conversation examining cogent arguments made throughout the debates. After attending this session, participants will understand the logistics of planning in-class debates, moderating post-debate student discussions, and evaluation methods of student debate performance and on a corresponding reflective writing assignment. Student and faculty takeaways and prospective classroom debate ideas will be provided.

Reform of the Electoral System

1952 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 394-407
Author(s):  
Ruth C. Silva
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Electoral College ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
College System

Current proposals for reform of the electoral college system are embodied in three plans which appear to be designed to enable the “conservatives” to elect a President of the United States. Since 1932, the present electoral college system has compelled both parties to nominate presidential candidates who advocate policies devised to win the votes of conscious ethnic, religious, and economic groups in metropolitan centers, where these minorities hold a balance of power in populous states controlling large blocs of electoral votes. Consequently, all recent presidential candidates have supported social security, collective bargaining, and civil rights legislation. An inspection of congressional roll calls discloses the rather obvious fact that a number of Republicans and southern Democrats hardly approve of these and other so-called Fair Deal measures.

scholarly journals How the Electoral College Influences Campaigns and Policy: The Probability of Being Florida

2008 ◽  
Vol 98 (3) ◽  
pp. 769-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Strömberg
Keyword(s):  
Close Agreement ◽  
Political Competition ◽  
Presidential Campaign ◽  
Electoral College ◽  
Presidential Candidate ◽  
Popular Vote ◽  
Probabilistic Voting ◽  
Forecast Uncertainty ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
College System

This paper analyzes how US presidential candidates should allocate resources across states to maximize the probability of winning the election, by developing and estimating a probabilistic-voting model of political competition under the Electoral College system. Actual campaigns act in close agreement with the model. There is a 0.9 correlation between equilibrium and actual presidential campaign visits across states, both in 2000 and 2004. The paper shows how presidential candidate attention is affected by the states' number of electoral votes, forecasted state-election outcomes, and forecast uncertainty. It also analyzes the effects of a direct national popular vote for president. (JEL D72)

scholarly journals Oligarchic Media Ownership and Polarized Television Coverage in Indonesia’s 2014 Presidential Election

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-86
Author(s):  
Prasakti Ramadhana Fahadi
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
General Election ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Presidential Candidate ◽  
Media Ownership ◽  
Candidate Pair ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
The Media ◽  
And Performance

It has been argued that the media ownership is an influential factor determining the content production and performance of the media. However, knowledge about the characteristics of the media ownership and its impacts on the coverage of general election by the media has been less researched. Judging by such developments, this work raises the following question: how did the oligarchic ownership of the Indonesian news television channels determine the ways in which they covered two candidates who ran for president in 2014? By selecting TV One and Metro TV as a case study, this work extracts reports on the ways in which these news TV channels have produced news content related to the 2014 general election using qualitative and thematic content analyses. The findings are as follows: In the 2014 Indonesian presidential election, both TV One and Metro TV failed to comply with the ideal journalistic principles of covering both sides, objective and balanced reporting, as required by the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission, while broadcasting news about the two presidential candidates. Instead, the television stations preferred to broadcast the polarized news coverage of the presidential candidates. TV One appeared to show more support for the Prabowo-Hatta Rajasa presidential candidate pair, while Metro TV favoured the Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla presidential candidate pair. This suggests that oligarchic media ownership strongly influenced the content production and performance of these news TV channels. They were used by oligarchs who have the media company to convey their personal political agendas in the hope that it will influence, or even set, the public’s agenda.

Biden would struggle to govern and reform

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Influence ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
Electoral College ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Content Type ◽  
College System ◽  
Run Off ◽  
Fault Lines ◽  
Tax Cuts

Significance The race is edging towards Biden. Trump is contesting the outcome and will continue doing so until January 6 when Congress has to certify whether the Electoral College has re-elected him or elected Biden president, ahead of inauguration day on January 20. Impacts Democrats may be able to end the Republicans’ Senate majority if there are two run-off elections in Georgia in January. The failure of a Democratic ‘blue wave’ will reopen party fault lines between centrists and progressives. A narrow Biden victory with a Republican-led Senate would make rolling back Trump’s 2017 corporate tax cuts unlikely. Pollsters face questions about their work’s accuracy and political influence, especially capturing rural political feeling. Calls to replace the Electoral College system could grow, but change would need a constitutional amendment.

Alexander Hamilton and the 2016 Election

2019 ◽  
pp. 151-175
Author(s):  
Robert M. Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
The Body ◽  
Electoral College ◽  
Hillary Clinton ◽  
Alexander Hamilton ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
The Past ◽  
Electoral Vote ◽  
2016 Election

This chapter examines the 2016 election through the lens of the Electoral College. The election represents the sixth time the popular vote winner did not win the Electoral College vote. It also represents the most faithless votes cast for president in any presidential election, and it is the second time in the past three elections that a state split its electoral vote between presidential candidates. Particular attention is devoted to the so-called Hamilton elector movement that aimed to have electors select an alternative candidate to Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. A survey of the 2016 Electoral College reveals that a record number of electors considered voting contrary to expectations, and most all electors were lobbied to do so. Electoral College lobbyists consisted of citizens throughout the country and members of the body itself. Reservations over elector discretion draws attention to the differences between the original Electoral College and the evolved body.

A Calamitous Compact

2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (04) ◽  
pp. 791-796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darin DeWitt ◽  
Thomas Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Plurality Rule ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
Electoral College ◽  
State Law ◽  
Popular Vote ◽  
Election System ◽  
Winner Take All ◽  
Take All ◽  
Do So

ABSTRACTThe National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (joined so far by ten states and DC) would replace the current presidential-election system, based on the electoral college and the winner-take-all rule, with nationwide plurality rule, and it would do so by changes in state law, not a Constitutional amendment. The mischief that would create (especially procedural instability, noncompliant electors, nation-wide recounts, vote manipulation, and narrowed support), the compact’s questionable Constitutionality, the weakness of its defense, and the availability of less calamitous alternatives are reasons enough to reject it.

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