For all those who don’t know, the United States of America is a democracy formed by the voice of its citizens, or is it? The Bishop Blanchet Miter staff has taken into account the federal presidential election system, or the Electoral College and have found contradicting opinions about whether or not the system should continue to determine the president of the United States.

Surprisingly, the founding fathers of this country actually made an effort to limit how much influence American citizens can have over government, and the electoral college is proof of this. The Electoral College is a complex system where basically each state has a certain amount of electoral votes and the popular vote from each state determines which candidate receives those electoral points. Whoever receives 270 of the electoral, wins the presidency of the United States.

Although, specifically in this past election, American citizens are protesting that the Electoral College should be eliminated proclaiming to give more power to the people. Which is completely  what our founding fathers didn’t want. The commotion about this is unprecedented, mostly because in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote and Donald Trump won the Electoral College making Trump the President elect. This has now happened four times in United States history and because of the upset and unrest of voters continuing to protest the results, the Electoral College has become an issue. People are starting to recognize that the presidential election is no longer in the hands of the people, it’s become a game candidates play in order to receive the 270.

“I think that candidates won’t play true to their own opinions and align with their parties,” said Reporter Sophia Petrucci, “specifically to just get elected according to the electoral college and the states that correlate to each party, which ultimately creates a political game.”

In detail, certain states are known for supporting one of the two main parties, Democratic or Republican (Not taking into account any third parties). Washington State for example, has a history of being very liberal because of it’s very high populated and liberal city: Seattle. While Texas, has very rarely in federal elections ever voted for Democratic party and tends to vote along the right wing. Campaign managers and Candidates take this into account to help determine which states to win over in order to win the 270. That means appealing to the specific kind of citizens in those states, like if they are blue collar or white collar workers. Although it becomes frustrating to us when the candidates will say they are against something in the city of Seattle but then be for that same thing in Texas which causes candidates to not only disregard their own political views but also create a tendency of deception towards voters.

“Parties will target certain states, especially swing states that are more valuable in the election,” said Editor Maggie Kuzner, “causing states like Washington to seem like their vote is less important because we live in such a democratic city.”

Like I said before the Electoral College was integrated into our election system to limit the voice of the majority, or “Tyranny of the majority”. This means that not all, but some American citizens simply can be uneducated about the system of the government and the checks and balances, so much so that without realizing it, they will want something done by the government that could hinder the fate of the country. The Electoral College prevents this by picked electors, governors, delegates, mayors and more that know the ins and outs of the government so well that they know what is best for the city, county, state, and country.

“The electoral college prevents the Tyranny of Majority or uneducated people that don’t understand government.” Said Editor Chad Strazzara, “That is why we use systems like the electoral college that limits this, so that the more educated people represent us.”

We correlated it to a chef and a person who has never learned how to cook. Who would you trust more with cooking your Christmas dinner? A professional, or a novice?

Though some argued that because of Presidents like Richard Nixon, and the Watergate scandal believe that because of the false promises and facets put on by this president elect and maneuvering of the Electoral College, this corrupt president was put into political office.

“It could be possible that because of the Electoral ‘game’, Nixon won the president with false accusations about what his presidency will consist of,” said Kruzner.

Although once the 2016 election was brought up once again, the Miter staff quickly realized that no one has ever won an election without winning states like Ohio and Florida. With this information the staff either viewed this to put an end to the electoral college or keep it. Does this limit the people’s voice? Or does the Electoral College look out for the greater good?

Ultimately it’s up for you readers to decide your opinions, and depending on how strong one feels about it, go out and create action.