Is Voting Important?

Polls will be opening up at 7 am today and will be flooded with American citizens who are wanting to have their voices and opinions heard on what is an extremely important day for many. There are also many people that feel, for any number of reasons, that their vote does not matter. It is because of this that Tiger Media Network is proud to present this article, so that you can know how the electoral process in America works, and whether or not your vote matters.

Being an American citizen comes with a lot of benefits, and its voting process is one of its most valued qualities. The process of voting is pretty complicated but is not impossible to grasp. On Election Day, there are actually two different votes that are being tallied, the popular vote and electoral vote. The popular vote is pretty self-explanatory. It shows what candidate is most favored by the American people by state. There have only been 4 elections in our nation’s history in which the winner of the popular vote has lost the election, and these losses have been due to the electoral vote.

The Founding Fathers feared the idea of a majority tyranny, and it was because of this fear that they denied the idea of relying solely on the results of the popular votes. As a form of balance, they implemented the Electoral vote and, as a necessary result, the Electoral College. The electoral college is made up of 538 representatives of all political parties, and are divided up among the 50 states. The division of electors is based on the size and population of individual states. The state’s electors decide on the candidate they are going to support based on the popular votes of their state. The end goal for each candidate is to win the majority of electoral votes (the majority of electoral votes is reached at 270 votes).

The use of the Electoral College has been a topic of controversy amongst voters since its implementation. One of the main problems with the Electoral College is that it makes larger states more valuable than smaller states, due to the larger states having more elector votes. Furthermore, the use of electors makes large states with almost equal candidate favorability a large focal point. These states are called “swing states”, these states can have a huge impact on the results of an election (as seen in the 2000 election that won George W. Bush the election).  

The idea that our votes do not matter in presidential elections is a popular reason as to why many citizens do not vote at all. As a matter of fact, this was the view of Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. When asked about voting, Stalin stated, “The people who cast the votes don’t decide an election, the people who count the votes do.” This misconception leads many citizens to not vote. Though our system may not be perfect, it is still in place to represent the well-being of its people. If you see your views and opinions as valuable, it is your obligation to vote. As long as we have a voice, we have value. If we do not speak out for what we believe, someone else will speak for us.

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