Why the Electoral College Exists | Nat Geo Explores

Every four years, people head to the polls to vote for the next President of the United States. However, the popular vote doesn't directly elect any candidate. Instead, citizens are voting for a slate of electors, who have promised to cast their states' votes after the election. Today, the Electoral College system is very controversial, leading many people to ask: why does it exist at all? That answer lies in the history of the Constitution and how its creators originally believed America's brand-new government should run and how its leader should be elected. As it turns out, the Electoral College was just as contentious in 1787 as it is today.

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Read more in "Here’s why the Electoral College exists—and how it could be reformed"

Why the Electoral College Exists | Nat Geo Explores

National Geographic

[NatGeo]

Today, the Electoral College system is very controversial, leading many people to question why it exists at all. What's one thing you learned from this video?

[robertpolityka]

The one thing that i noticed was that the video did NOT mention, was how to abolish the Electoral College. It takes the approval of three-fourths of the states to ratify a proposed Constitutional Amendment.

[mcatherine]

Ok but the editing and clips used for this video is surprisingly entertaining and fun to watch ^-^
Anyone else think this????

[ejasmohamed]

Democracy : power is held by the majority
Republic : power is held by people and their elected representatives.

[sdozer]

I'm less concerned about the electoral college and more concerned with that our politics today is 7 blue wolves, 5 red wolves, 1 green sheep and 1 yellow sheep deciding on what to eat for dinner.

[zaw]

What they didn't say was that the electoral college from some states can vote for who ever they want to in the end.

[akhorr]

As someone living in Southeast Asia, it always baffles me that America, the country that's known for its freedom and democracy, still has a two party system, electoral college and winner takes all policy.

Here we have 10+ political parties, several candidates, proportional parliament based on threshold and whoever gets the most votes becomes the president. And our country is just 75 years old with a long history of dictatorship that ended in 1998.

[timrichardson]

And it was also put in place in a time when universal suffrage was not a thing. The founders didn't envision a democracy in the sense of every individual having equal say in elections. They were more concerned with balance of power between branches of government and between the people and the government. The closer we get to pure democracy, especially in a system of universal suffrage, the more that balance gets upset and distributes power across too many voters, most of whom don't take the time to inform themselves on the issues or candidates adequately. So, there are some fundamental principles we need to be clear on before just saying yeah, we need direct popular voting.

[landoncarter]

I think this is an overly simplistic look at the electoral college. I don't claim to know everything about it, but I think the founders were attempting to balance the influence of the states with the influence of individuals, so that the most populous states didn't dominate quite as much (although they still dominate). It seems like the influence of the individual states was important to the founders, in my opinion.

[thelifter]

America and India are best friends and I love American love from india

[HiLaToya]

Lin-Manuel popping up as Hamilton took me out!

[gordonadams]

The problem with the college is some votes end up not counting at all. In 2016 it was shown 1 vote in Montana equals about 3.5 votes in California. No wonder so many people believe it's pointless to vote!

Historically, the college was designed to allow the South more say in the government than it had free citizens.

[EddieUsedYawn]

Seeing this made me realize it was most likely a great thing to have back then. But now, it’s awful. It makes small states votes count more. Once again in the USA not everyone is truly equal :/

[lancecahill]

In a democracy, the majority always rules, and that's not always a good thing. That's why the US is a constitutional republic where the minority also has a voice in how the country is run. This is a concept that many non-Americans don't understand.

[jamesmays]

So true and most people don't know or understand that a US president can lose the peoples vote and still become president of the US

[metaleater]

"This whole document is a compromise"
AND? I FAIL TO SEE THE PROBLEM HERE?

[Byerlyk]

I love how they used Lin Manuel Miranda as Hamilton 🤣

[hza]

I can tell this was made for kids, and I STILL don’t understand it😭🤦🏻‍♀️ Come on brain!

[krashcash]

This needs to be kept in place. It is the last bastion of states rights. It is what makes this country a union of states instead of a single state with administrative regions.

[MichaelRobinson-fv]

Why can’t we just count the number of votes and whoever has the most wins