We believe our country needs a stronger voting system compared to the current Electoral College system. The American people deserve better representation in Presidential elections and our team is dedicated to educating the public on how we can create a more efficient system.
Introduction
Voting in the United States has always been a confusing process that many Americans do not understand. The current Electoral College system is overly complicated and most people do not understand how electoral votes are distributed during a U.S. Presidential Election.
To give some context of the Electoral College system, currently 48 states award all their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote within their state. There are only two states (Nebraska, Maine) that distribute their votes by the candidate who won the district within the state. This allows for more than one candidate to receive electoral votes, rather than only one candidate receiving all the electoral votes.
Before examining how the Electoral College can be reformed, we need a greater understanding of why people do not vote, and what the historic turnout rate has been for U.S. Presidential Elections.
Not Enough Voters
A common theme in the U.S. Presidential Elections is that there are consistently fewer people who vote in comparison to the number of registered voters and the number of eligible voters.
To interact with the visualization below, hover your cursor over a selected bar.
Within our study, we used several data sets from the U.S. Census to create the Voter Data In United States bar graph above. Around 30–40% of eligible voters did not vote in each of the last three Presidential elections we examined (2008, 2012, 2016). What’s interesting however is that the number of actual voters is lower than the number of registered voters by about 10%. There is an enormous number of people that could vote but don’t. The goal is to get close to 75% of eligible voters actually voting in the U.S elections.
The data to create this visualization was obtained directly from the U.S. Census and there is a link to the data in our visualization.
Low Turnout Rate
Along with voter registration being low in the U.S., the turnout rate for Presidential and Midterm elections has consistently fallen over time.
We noticed that the turnout rate percentage of all eligible voters for presidential elections is almost always higher than midterms. From the mid-1800s to the early 1900s voting turnout percentages were as high as 80%, which is close to where we would like to see the United States voter percentage be. However, since the 1920’s the United States has had its turnout rate fluctuate between 50–60%.
The data for the U.S. Voter Turnout Percentage 1789-Present graph obtained from the Election Project created by Professor Michael P. McDonald from the University of Florida, and was verified with the U.S. census.
Voter Survey Data
After we learned about U.S. voter registration and voter turnout rate in the United States we decided to conduct a small survey of local adults and students to ask them a series of questions hoping to learn more about voter behavior. Our survey participants consisted of college students between the ages of 18 to 24 at Chapman University and the University of Washington. In addition, the adults in our survey were anywhere between the ages of 25 to 60 and were also located in California or Washington.
We took a poll of 54 students and adults and asked them three simple questions: Did they vote? If no, why not? Lastly, what would make them want to vote in the future?
Our first survey question asked if the individual voted in the 2020 Presidential Election.
The results from our first survey question were as follows, 34 participants said that they did vote and 20 participants said that they did not vote. The majority of participants who did not vote were college students and the majority of participants who did vote were adults.
Our next survey question asked participants their reason for not voting. This question was asked in multiple-choice format with three choices and also a choice to select “Other” if none of the choices reflect the participant’s reason to not vote.
It is important to note that only the individuals who did not vote were asked to answer this question.
For the 20 participants that did not vote, 50% said that they didn’t feel as if their vote counted towards anything. Our solution of a different voting method works to try to solve this problem. Of the others, 4 didn’t support either of the candidates, 3 didn’t have the time to vote, and the remaining 3 had other reasons.
The most important takeaway from this survey question is that majority of our participants do not believe that their vote makes a difference in elections, and that is exactly what we are striving to fix!
The final question in our survey asked the participants who did not vote, what would make them want to vote. The question was asked in multiple-choice format with three options and one “Other” option.
When participants were asked what would make them vote in the future, 9 replied if they felt that their vote had a greater impact, 6 said if there were more political party options, and another 3 said if there was a faster voting process (ex. online), with the rest saying they had other various reasons.
Survey Analysis
The primary takeaway from our survey is that the young generation is less likely to vote because they believe their vote does not make a difference. The majority of the individuals who did not vote also said that they would vote if their vote made a greater impact.
Our Current Voting System
From our research, it is clear that the majority of individuals who do not vote want their vote to have a greater weight in elections. Unfortunately, the current Electoral College system is set up in such a way that each citizen does not necessarily have an equal say in the election. This is because the United States uses a “winner take all method” which basically means that the popular vote within each state wins all electoral votes for that state. The amount of electoral votes for a party is determined by the total number of electoral votes for all the states where that party won.
Below we have maps that display the results from the 2012 and 2016 elections, showing the distribution of electoral votes using the current “winner take all method”.
By hovering over a circle with your cursor the number of electoral votes can be viewed.
Every state is represented by the colored circle in the state, red for Republicans, blue for Democrats. The states have different size circles to represent the number of electoral votes each state has. Democrats add up all of the electoral votes from each blue state, and the Republicans add up all the electoral votes from the red states. In order for a candidate to win a Presential election, they must reach 270+ votes. As we can see, in the 2012 election Obama beat Romney 332 to 206, and in 2016 Trump beat Clinton 306 to 232.
We feel that this method doesn’t represent all voters well, as a majority within a state wins all of the electoral votes. If you live in a state that generally sides with one party, like California with Democrats, then if you were aligned with the opposing party, your vote would be essentially weightless.
Our Proposed Method
Instead, we propose that the United States implements the Congressional District voting method so that American citizens have stronger representation and greater vote weightage in Presidential elections. This method splits up electoral votes for each state by district.
To give some historical context, there are 538 total electoral votes in the United States. This number represents the number of representatives in the House, and senators in Congress plus three to represent Washington D.C. There are 436 House Electoral votes representing each district within the United States, including the District of Columbia. There are 2 Senate votes for each state, as well as the District of Columbia, combining for a total of 102 Senate Electoral Votes. Combining the House of Representatives with the Senate votes results in 538 total electoral votes.
By implementing the Congressional District Method, instead of assigning all the electoral votes of a state to the popular vote winner, electoral votes are assigned by districts. Then the party that wins more districts also receives the two senate votes from their state. The reason we have chosen to assign votes by districts is that they are more compact and better represent a smaller part of a state. In addition, each district represents one member of the House of Representatives.
For example, California has 53 districts and two senators, so if Democrats won 27 districts and Republicans won 26, the Democrats would receive 27 electoral votes along with the two senate votes. In addition, Republicans would still receive 26 electoral votes, compared to the current “winner take all method” where Republicans would receive no electoral votes.
Below are graphs from the 2012 and 2016 Presidential elections and they show how states would distribute electoral votes if the elections used the Congressional District Method.
States that have a green circle would split their electoral votes and assign them to each party. States that have an orange circle would not split their electoral votes and only assign them to one party.
By using your mouse and hovering over a circle, the distribution of electoral votes for the state can be viewed.
Final Thoughts
The purpose of implementing the Congressional District Method is to make U.S. Presidential Elections more competitive, more accurately represent what the American people want, and create a system that is easier to understand. Our hope is that by implementing Congressional District Method, more individuals are inclined to vote because they know that their vote can have an impact on winning their respective district and hopefully giving their chosen party a chance at winning the respective electoral vote as well.
In addition, by using Congressional District Method, U.S. states will no longer be “Blue” or “Red”, many states will be divided and will assign electoral votes based on districts won. This will create much more competitive elections and that will influence more citizens to vote.
