Why the Electoral College is Terrible

Video Description

UPDATE- I made a follow-up video to this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kWF2Rhxx-c Mr. Beat explains how the Electoral College is the worst way to elect the President and Vice President in the United States. #electoralcollege #uspolitics #apgov Check out the Felt Show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dR7SLuDYl8 Check out E Pluribus Unum here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqQwwB-aZiqEJJYQ7isLoSA Steven Crowder's sad attempt to defend the Electoral College: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBJmogy9d6U CGP Grey's classic, great Electoral College takedown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wC42HgLA4k Want a specific history topic covered? Your idea gets picked when you donate on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/iammrbeat Donate on Paypal: paypal.me/mrbeat Mr. Beat's band: http://electricneedleroom.net/ Mr. Beat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/beatmastermatt Mr. Beat on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iammrbeat/ Produced by Matt Beat. Music by Electric Needle Room. All images either by Matt Beat, found in the public domain, or used under fair use guidelines. Special thanks to the AP Archives for use of some their footage! Sources: https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/electors.html#selection https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/provisions.html#provisions https://www.270towin.com/content/electoral-college-ties/ https://www.politico.com/magazine/thepeoplewhopickthepresident/2016/the-teenager-and-the-93-year-old https://www.fairvote.org/faithless_electors https://www.fairvote.org/maine_nebraska http://time.com/4558510/electoral-college-history-slavery/ https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html http://www.whydomath.org/node/voting/US_presidential_elections.html https://www.npr.org/2016/11/26/503170280/charts-is-the-electoral-college-dragging-down-voter-turnout-in-your-state https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/polls https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/12/06/why_we_need_the_electoral_college_132499.html https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-12-27/the-electoral-college-doesnt-work-the-way-the-founding-fathers-intended https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2012/11/defending-the-electoral-college.html Reform options to fix problems of Electoral College: http://archive.fairvote.org/e_college/reform.htm Photo credits: Ryanandlenny Gage Skidmore This video is about how the Electoral College works. Ok, you know what? Scratch that. This video is about how the Electoral College is horrible. So yeah, this is one of my rare opinion videos. Long-time viewers of my channel already know how much I hate the Electoral College, but here, finally, is my epic video making the case that it should be gone, or, at the very least, reformed. I’ve been wanting to make this video for a long time. So first, what is the Electoral College? It’s the system of electing the President and Vice President every four years in the United States. It’s described in Section 2, Article 1 and the 12th Amendment of the Constitution. First, in general, the political parties in each state pick these people called electors. They often choose these electors based on their service to the party, and typically these electors are elected state officials, state party leaders, or even people who have connections to their party’s Presidential candidate. These electors can’t be in the United States Congress, but otherwise each state is fairly loose with their requirements. In the 2016 election, the youngest elector was 19 and the oldest 93. There are a total of 538 electors in the entire country, which is a random number the Founding Fathers pulled out of their- what? Oh I guess there’s a good reason why there’s 538. The 538 number is based off of 100 Senators plus 435 representatives plus 3 for the District of Columbia because heaven forbid we forget them (23rd amendment). So it’s partially based on an equal vote for every state, and also based on population. Kansas currently has six electors because it has 2 Senators plus 4 representatives representing 4 districts in the House of Representatives. Together, these 538 electors make up the Electoral College. On Election Day, tens of millions of Americans go to a voting booth and cast their ballots for President and Vice President, except that they are not really casting their ballots for President and Vice President. What counts in the Electoral College are the votes of the 538 electors. Now, these electors usually look at who the majority of their state voted for and vote with them, but still, they COULD vote for whoever they want.