A Comparison of the Electoral College with Proportional Representation

How the Electoral System Works and Why It Is Undemocratic

The purpose of this paper is four-fold: 1) to describe the voting system in the United States and explain how it works; 2) to compare the American electoral system with the other types of voting systems; 3) to contrast the American electoral system with the other types of systems; and, 4) to provide an opinion as to which type of electoral system is the most democratic. Finally, the paper also provides a summary of the research and significant findings concerning the voting system in the United States in the conclusion.

Identify the type of voting system in the United States and thoroughly explain the how it works;

The voting system that is used in the United States to elect the president and vice president at present is termed the “electoral college,” which was created by the Founders as a compromise between having the U.S. Congress elect the president and vice president and a popular vote of qualified citizenry. According to the legal definition provided by Black’s Law Dictionary, the electoral college is “the college or body of electors of a state chosen to elect the president and vice president; also, the whole body of such electors, composed of the electoral colleges of the several states” (p. 520).

Interestingly, although the origins of the electoral college are found in the Constitution, the term itself is not used. In this regard, federal archivists report that, “The Electoral College is the process by which the United States elects the President, even though that term does not appear in the U.S. Constitution. In this process, the States (which includes the District of Columbia just for this process) elect the President and Vice President” (Electoral College, 2023, para. 2). While the term “electoral college” does not appear in the Constitution, the document does make reference to electors in Article II and the 12th Amendment (Electoral College History, 2023). The Electoral College is currently comprised of 538 electors which are based in part on state population levels (states receive one electoral vote for each member of the House of Representative and one each for both senators) and a total of 270 electoral votes is required to win the vote for president (What is the Electoral College?, 2023).

Compare the American electoral system with the other types of voting systems

The modern American electoral system is the legacy of debates over the proper representation of individuals from each state in selecting the nation’s executives during the slave era. Today, some other countries use proportional representation and mixed proportional representation which are regarded as producing more democratic election results. Proportional representation is a popular voting system in Western democracies where legislators are elected in multi-member districts and the number of seats a party wins is proportional to its support among voters. At present, proportional representation is used in 21 out of 28 Western European countries including Austria, Germany, and Spain (Proportional representation voting systems, 2023).

Likewise, mixed proportional representation electoral systems blend the plurality or majority system with proportional representation. In this alternative voting system, half of the legislature members are elected in single-member district plurality contests while the other half is selected through a party list vote to ensure proportional representation. Proponents of the mixed proportional voting system maintain that it provides the best features of other voting systems (George, 2019). Clearly, proportional representation and mixed proportional representation offer a viable alternative to America’s electoral college as discussed further below.

Contrast the American electoral system with the other types of systems

The American electoral system is unique among the types of voting systems used by other countries in the world today. Unlike the proportional representation and mixed proportional representation systems, the electoral college assigns all of state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate with a plurality of votes even if the candidate failed to secure a majority of the popular votes. This means that presidential candidates who win the popular vote may not win the presidency which has been the case five times since 1824 when Andrew Jackson lost the presidential election to Rutherford B. Hayes despite winning the popular vote (Revesz, 2016).

Render an opinion as to which type of electoral system is the most democratic.

The Electoral College in the United States is fundamentally undemocratic. Democracy refers to “that form of government in which the sovereign power resides in and is exercised by the whole body of free citizens directly or indirectly through a system of representation, as distinguished from a monarchy, aristocracy or oligarchy” (p. 432). This definition means that the votes for president by Republicans living in predominately Democratic states such as California will simply not count towards the deciding the outcome, and vice versa. In far too many cases, voters in these situations simply give up and decide not to exercise their franchise at all, a decision that adversely affects presidential elections of course but down-ballot candidates as well. Democracy only works if everyone gets a voice, and the Electoral College ensures that only some voices are heard in presidential elections, making the system undemocratic by definition.