PSAT Writing and Language Practice Question 711

Question: 711

Electoral College
The United States is the only country in the world to use an Electoral College system to elect its chief executive. Each state has a certain number of electors based on 23 their number of senators and representatives. If a candidate wins the majority of the electoral votes, currently 270, 24 he or she wins the election. It is high time that America shifts from this undemocratic, elitist system to one in which the president is selected by a simple majority of the popular votes. 
25 Why do Americans allow a system that doesn't permit minority groups in society to have their say? Yet this is something that has happened five times in American history. John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump were all elected by a majority of the Electoral College while losing to another candidate in the popular vote. 26 The other presidential victors won both a majority of the electoral college and the most popular votes out of any of the candidates. Can you imagine voting for the student council president only to find that the winner did not actually receive the most votes? There would be outrage throughout the school. The Electoral College should not stay in place simply because it is something that 27 has been done for many years. 
If the United States were to shift to a majority vote 28 system the way, the presidential candidates campaign for office would fundamentally change. Right now, candidates have little reason to bother campaigning in states that typically go strongly for one of the political parties. There is little logic in a Republican trying to win New York or a Democrat trying to win Texas. Instead, candidates focus their energies on 29 "swing states" like Florida and Ohio, which are relatively balanced along party lines. A Floridian or Ohioan will currently receive far more candidate visits and attention than a New Yorker or a Texan. 30 Ohio has a smaller population relative to Texas, although Ohio does have a greater population density than Texas. This would ensure that all U.S. citizens have an equal voice not just in theory but in reality. 
The Electoral College served its purpose in years past when smaller states were concerned that larger states would 31 usurp their authority. Now that the union of states is firmly established after the Civil War and after over two centuries of continuity, 32 it is time to abandon this relic of the past so that everyone in the United States has an equal voice.
33
State*
Estimated 2008 Population
Electoral votes in 2008
Alaska
686,000
3
California
36,757,000
55
Delaware
873,000
3
Ohio
11,486,000
20
Texas
24,327,000
34

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