United States Presidential Election - Criticisms

Criticisms

Today, major parts of the presidential election process remain controversial. Because of the staggered nature of the primary season, voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and other small states which traditionally hold their primaries and caucuses first in January usually have a major impact on the races. Conversely, voters in California and other large states which traditionally hold their primaries last in June usually have no say because the races are usually over by then. As a result, more states vie for earlier primaries to claim a greater influence in the process. Primary and caucus reform proposals include a National Primary held on a single day; or the Interregional Primary Plan, where states would be grouped into six regions, and each of the regions would rotate every election on who would hold their primaries first.

With the primary races usually over before June, the political conventions have mostly become scripted, ceremonial affairs. As the drama has left the conventions, and complaints grown that they were scripted and dull pep rallies, viewership has fallen off. After formerly offering gavel-to-gavel coverage of the major party conventions in the mid-20th Century, the Big Three television networks now only devote approximately three hours of coverage (one hour per night).

Critics argue that the Electoral College is archaic and inherently undemocratic. With most states using a winner-take-all system, both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party candidates are all but certain to win all the electoral votes from the predominately Democratic and Republican states, respectively. This gives certain swing states, states in which no single candidate or party has overwhelming support, disproportionate influence. Thus, presidential candidates usually spend exponentially more time, money, and energy campaigning in a historically swing state like Ohio than either a Democratic state like California or a Republican state like Texas. Furthermore, a candidate can win the electoral vote without securing the greatest amount of the popular vote, such as during the 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000 elections. Proposed reforms include the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an interstate compact whereby individual participating states agree to allocate their electors based on the winner of the national popular vote instead of just their respective statewide results.