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Everyone would like a fair voting system, that is what the Founding Fathers intended for the United States. This paper is going to go over the type of voting system the United States uses compared to the voting system in Canada. Is one more democratic than the other? Should the United States change the way it votes and runs its elections? Let us find out.
The type of voting system in the United States is called the Electoral System. The Electoral system: Method and rules of counting votes to determine the outcome of elections. Winners may be determined by a plurality, a majority (more than 50% of the vote), an extraordinary majority (a percentage of the vote greater than 50%), or unanimity. Candidates for public office may be elected directly or indirectly. Proportional representation is used in some areas to ensure a fairer distribution of legislative seats to constituencies that may be denied representation under the plurality or majority formulas (Britannica). Many people think their vote is what directly counts. It does to an extent, but not in the way most people think. The president and vice president are elected through the Electoral College. In other U.S. elections, candidates are elected directly by popular vote. But the president and vice president are not elected directly by citizens. Instead, they are chosen by electors through a process called the Electoral College. The process of using electors comes from the Constitution. It was a compromise between a popular vote by citizens and a vote in Congress (Presidential Election Process, 2021). Many people in the United States want the Electoral College to be gone. They would rather the president and vice president be chosen by the popular vote of citizens who vote for them. There have been many candidates running for president who has won the popular vote by the citizens but lost the presidency because they did not get the majority of the Electoral College vote. Hillary Clinton is an example of when she ran against Donald Trump in 2016. She won the popular vote but did not win the electoral vote.
Elections in Canada use a first-past-the-post system, whereby the candidate that wins the most votes in a constituency is selected to represent that riding. Elections are governed by an elaborate series of laws and a well-developed administrative apparatus (Qualter). Canadas electoral system compares to the United States electoral system in citizens who are at least eighteen years old can vote, register to vote, and no limit to the number of parties, and both have a fixed date or schedule for the federal election to be held every four years (Federal Elections Comparison Table. (n.d.). These are the few things the Canadian and American electoral systems have in common.
The Canadian electoral system and the American electoral system have more differences than similarities. The U.S. is composed of the congress (senate and house of representatives) and the president and vice president. Voters cast their vote directly for a representative, senator, and president (Helmore). In Canada, which follows the British Parliamentary system of government, we vote directly for a Member of Parliament. The party with the most votes gains control of the government and therefore, their leader wins the position of Prime Minister (Helmore). Voters in the United States vote for a certain candidate or party, but ultimately the Electoral College decides. Voters in Canada vote and those votes directly count toward who wins. Another difference between the systems is that: A candidate for President or Vice President of the United States must be born in and have resided at least fourteen years in the United States, and be at least thirty-five years old (Bowal). Both the President and the Vice President serve four-year terms together. There are no special age, residency or birthplace requirements for the Prime Minister of Canada, and no elected Deputy (or Vice) Prime Minister of Canada on the ballot (Bowal). I find it very interesting that Canada does not have any of these requirements to become Prime Minister. These are just a few of the differences between the two electoral systems.
I think that Canadas electoral system is more democratic than the United States. I think this because I think the first-past-the-post system is more democratic by allowing the voters to vote for the candidate they want and that vote directly counts towards who wins, rather than voting in America where the electoral college ultimately decides who wins. Another reason I think that the Canadian electoral system is more democratic is that the candidate running to be Prime Minister does not have any requirements like a candidate running for president in the United States does. I think this is more democratic because there is more equality this way.
Works Cited
- Bowal, P. (2012, November 1). American and Canadian Election Laws: Top 10 Differences. Law Now. https://www.lawnow.org/american-and-canadian-election-laws/
- Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2016, May 11). Electoral system. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/electoral-system
- Federal Elections Comparison Table. (n.d.). Elections Canada. https://electionsanddemocracy.ca/your-classroom/comparing-electoral-systems-canada- and-united-states/federal-elections-comparison-table
- Helmore, K. (2016, November 8). Top 3 differences between American and Canadian elections. Kelowna Now. https://www.kelownanow.com/news/news/World_News/16/11/08/Top_3_differences_bet ween_American_and_Canadian_elections/
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