Imagine,
for a minute, that your class at school is going to select a leader. Maybe you
already elect a class President as part of your Social Studies lessons.
Each
person in your class votes for the person, or candidate, that they want to see
be the President. Then the votes are counted, and the candidate who gets the
most votes, gets the job.
Now
imagine that your whole school is going to vote for a student to be the
school's President. Any student in any classroom – Kindergarten through 6th
grade, or 7th through 9th grades – may be the President
of the school.
Just as
before, each person in your classroom votes for the candidate they want for
President. The votes are counted, just as before, to see which candidate has
received the most votes in your classroom.
This time,
after the votes are counted in each classroom, a piece of paper with the
winning candidate's name on it, is sent to the office. In the office, the votes
are counted by classroom, not by the individual votes candidates received in
the whole school.
The
President of the school is elected by the most classroom votes.
Let's
imagine another scenario. Perhaps your planet – which right now is Earth –
belongs to a federation of planets in our solar system. The Federation of
Planets elects a leader, the Solar System Super Bigshot. How should the Super
Bigshot be elected: by planets or by individual votes? Should your vote count
equally with alien votes? Should the Earth's vote count more than Jupiter's
vote, or Pluto's vote?
When we
elect the President of the United States, every citizen casts a ballot, in
their county and in their state, for the candidate they believe will do the
best job. Then the states count how many votes each candidate received. After
the votes are counted in each state, a piece of paper – with the winning candidate's
name on it – is given to electors who meet, as the Electoral College, to vote
for the President.
It isn't
actually a college, like a place where people go to classes and earn degrees.
But it is like the office in your school. It's the place where votes for the
President are counted by states, not by the number of individual votes any candidate
received.
This is
how the United States' President is elected.
Should
your school's President be chosen by classrooms, or by individual votes?
Should the
Solar System Super Bigshot be chosen by planets or by everyone's individual
vote?
Should the
United States' President be chosen by states, through electors, or by
individual votes?
Many U. S.
citizens believe that their individual vote should count directly for the
election of a President, not through the vote of states. They don't want electors to
decide who becomes President. Can you think of reasons why they feel this way?
What would be some reasons to keep electors and the Electoral College?
The system
of electors is written into the constitution of the United States. That makes
it pretty important, especially every four years when citizens elect a new
President.
