Thus the reason for the number of designated electors. They represent Americans by state in voting for a chief executive. The constitutional republic that the Electoral College stands for is a "key element of our federalist system" (Crane and Boaz 2001).
"The Constitutional Convention of 1787 considered several methods of electing the President, including selection by Congress, by the governors of the states, by a special group of members of Congress chosen by lot, and by direct popular election." In the end, during the Constitutional Convention, the Committee of Eleven proposed a College of Electors in which an indirect election would take place. This basic system was accepted and drafted into the Constitution with few changes (The Electoral College).
The Electoral College reflects several compromises made by the members of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. It is by no means a perfect electoral system, but it has several essential strengths. It reminds us that the United States is a federal republic, not merely a unitary nation-state. It encourages political parties and candidates to pay attention to all parts of the country, not just a few population centers. It reflects our intention to be a constitutional republic under representative government, not a direct democracy (Crane and Boaz 2001).
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Over the years there have been many arguments against the Electoral College. One of which is the worry that it could possibly upset the attendance of voters. "Since each state is entitled to the same number of electoral votes regardless of its voter turnout, there is no incentive in the States to encourage voter participation so as to enable a minority of citizens to decide the electoral vote for the whole state." This argument does not take into consideration that other elections occur within the state "in which these same incentives and disincentives are likely to operate, if at all, with an even greater force" (Kimberling).