FREE ESSAY ON ELECTORAL COLLEGE SHOULD BE HERE TO STAY

ELECTORAL COLLEGE SHOULD BE HERE TO STAY

Title: The Electoral College Should Be Here to Stay
General Purpose: To persuade
Specific Purpose: To persuade individuals that the Electoral College is not at fault for
the 
2000 Presidential election
Intro
I. Attention Getter- magazine covers (11/20 Newsweek and New Republic
II. Thesis Statement- I am here to tell you that the Electoral College is not to blame
for the current state of the 2000 presidential election, but instead a combination of
factors.
III. Statement of Significance- Wallace Sayre, "The Electoral College method of electing
a President of the United States is archaic, undemocratic, complex, ambiguous, indirect,
and dangerous."
IV. Preview
a. Replaying Election Night and Beyond
b. Explaining and Defending the Electoral College
c. Introducing the Real Causes of This Election's Problems
Transition to body
Body
I. Election Night and Beyond (board one)
a. Indiana
i. 6:00 pm- IN polls close
ii. 6:01 pm- Prediction give IN to Bush
b. Florida
i. 7:00 pm- FL polls close
ii. 7:47 pm- FL goes to Gore based on exit polls
iii. 9:54 pm- FL goes back to "too close to call"
iv. 2:18 am- FL goes to Bush
v. 4:04 am- FL goes back to "too close to call"
c. Since
i. Automatic recount to Bush
ii. Partial hand recounts to Bush
iii. Gore's contest of results and court battles
Now that I've gone over some details of the election, I now will explain the Electoral
College.
II. Electoral College (board two)
a. Definition
i. Equal to # of senators and reps Example One
ii. Example One
iii. Example Two
iv. Add them up, get 538, 270 to win
b. Reasoning
i. Set up to give smaller states a say in choosing a president
ii. Majority rule w/ minority rights
c. But My Vote Doesn't Count in Indiana...It Would in a Direct Election
i. One person, one vote...candidates will campaign everywhere
1. WRONG, focus will be only on cities, Indiana's focus stays the same
2. "Battlegrounds" like WI, IA, NM, OR, NH will mean nothing
d. Small states will get no representation
i. New Hampshire example (Crawley)
ii. CA = 54, smallest 16 states= 60
iii. MT West will have no influence, lumber example
e. Would getting rid of it solve the problem?
i. NO, Popular vote difference is less than 400,000 out of 90,000,000
ii. Result = 50 states of recounts instead of one = no pres by 1/20/01
So now that you know some background of election night and the Electoral College, what
was the problem with this election?
III. What Did It...Media, Exit Polls, and Voting Laws
i. Early predictions made based on polling voters after they voted so a president can be
picked by bed time
ii. Very bad! Don't predict, wait until votes counted
iii. OR- mail in voting system
iv. FL- absentees only postmarked by election day, not at courthouses
Conclusion
I. Summary of Main Points
a. Election Night
b. Electoral College
c. Real Causes
II. What do we do? Require all ballots in on Election Day? Maybe. Lock the media in a
closet and not let them out until all the ballots are counted? Couldn't hurt. But abolish
the Electoral College. No way.
Bibliography
"2000 Electoral College Map." USA Today. 22 Nov. 2000. 29 Nov. 2000. 
http://www.usatoday.com/news/vote2000/electfront.htm.
Crawley, Gary. "Election 2000 and Its Aftermath." POLS 372 Lecture. Ball State 
University. 9 Nov. 2000.
"Post-Election Special." The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Comedy Central, New York. 8
Nov. 2000.
Sayre, Wallace, and Judith H. Parris. Voting for President: The Electoral College and 
the American Political System. The Brookings Institution: Washington, 1970.
Wildavsky, Polsby. Presidential Elections. The Free Press: New York, 1964.
New Republic. 20 Nov. 2000: Cover.
1Newsweek. 20 Nov. 2000: Cover.