POLS 1150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Grover Cleveland

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 1150
• Professor: Mark Yanisziewski

Document Summary

Every four years, americans do not vote for a president, nor does the candidate with the most vote necessarily win (but usually they do); instead, americans vote for electors. These electors, as part of the electoral college, elect the president and the vice-president. Americans do not have a single presidential election they effectively have 51 simultaneous elections. The electoral college is one of the mechanisms used to moderate the democratic process. The writers of the american constitution realized that democracy sometimes could be corrupted, so they wanted to create a system that would preserve the best attributes of democracy, while minimizing the dangers of the tyranny of the majority". The electoral college moderates the democratic system in two ways: It uses representatives (i. e. , electors) who are to act as trustees. Forces candidates to campaign in many different places in the country (not just large cities) and make promises to people in varying places and with varying lifestyles.