Yara,
This is a very interesting approach to the flawed voting system the U.S. has in place today. We are forced to choose one candidate to represent us, when we know that they certainly don’t cover all the bases and, if they don’t win, we will most likely get stuck with the candidate with opposite views. I do feel like it will make people feel more comfortable when voting, especially those who have views across the political spectrum, however, voting is already pretty complicated and this may lead to incorrectly filled out forms. I found this pretty interesting article on what positive effects rank-choice voting could have on candidates that may be overlooked most times https://time.com/5718941/ranked-choice-voting/
I would really love to see examples of this type of voting that probably changed the outcome of elections. Thank You!

I think this is a part of our government that we have to really think about when it comes to its effectiveness and why the electoral college is there in the first place. It is such a controversial topic to some people, and I find it interesting a lot of times to hear why people think the electoral college should stay in use. I think Ken Blackwell did a good job in describing one of the reasons why it would be better to keep the electoral college in place, but I still think at the end of the day the negatives outweigh the positives.

Dear yara i agree with you yes gun are the problems from today and around the world because many people getting killed by a single shot for no reason and i don’t think that a good ideas especially for young kids cause they going to think oh that look fun to do and i see many young kids playing with guns and shot the self by accident and i think everyone should talk about this and take this for real.

Gun laws are currently a problem in our society. From what I have read from this, it seems that Hawaiian laws are working well. Just leaves me with this question, why isn’t this being put into place in the mainland united states. I don’t think that the right of owning a gun should be banned in any way. It just needs to be regulated properly, to prevent any event that causes many to die.

I would disagree that “more guns is the solution.” A lot of tragedies have happened due to people who have access to guns. Many guns have landed in the hands of the wrong people which led to many deaths/ incidents. Even those who do have the right to own a gun have used it wrongfully. I think that picking and choosing who gets to have a gun is very risky since we never know what the outcome of the decision will be. I hope that gun violence goes down soon and there is a solution for this to happen.

Hi, I like your post because I think gun laws are one of many problems today. From what I read it seems to work in Hawaii. Will they ever make this law for the mainlands? With all these restrictions and how hard it is to get a hand on a gun but still people are able to purchase. Would you think it would be a good idea to ban guns once and for all? And only let them be allowed for those in the military or some type of service?

I do believe this is something we should look into. Guns make it significantly easier to kill people. That is why they are bad. More control on who we let have guns should make that issue significantly less bad.

While I do think replacing the electoral college is something we should heavily consider, I think there could be better reasoning for it. For example you stated that because of the electoral college candidates compete heavily in battle ground states, however, if it were to be replaced by, say, a popular vote, this would just turn the largest states into the new battleground states and smaller states would begin to receive no attention or care whatsoever. I do think the electoral college should be replaced, but I’m not sure if we have yet come across the best solution.

Hi Yara, I also agree with you that it is a good idea to replace the electoral college. Did you know, a candidate could only win 11 states and have enough to tie. That means that they could lose by 100% in each state besides 11, where they only have to get the majority of the vote which could be in the 30% and 40% range, and they would still tie.

I agree that the electoral college system needs change, whether that be from a new system or more moderate improvements. However, I disagree one thing you said. I think that the popular vote would allow candidates to disregard smaller states and focus on the most populous ones. That would be bad because these states would probably feel under-appreciated and unrepresented. We need a better system that still involves every state.

I also think that Electoral College should be replaced, with the argument to replace it being convincing. The Electoral College devalues voters in states that are not swing states, potentially discouraging people in such states from voting, since they know that there is almost no chance of their candidate winning the state. The Electoral College has also resulted in candidates winning the presidency without a majority/plurality of the vote, meaning that it does not always reflect the “We the People” ideal. The winner-take-all format essentially results in millions of votes not counting, since the losing candidate in a state does not get any electoral votes, even if the loss is by a very narrow margin. I agree with the claim that using a popular vote system would make candidates campaign in more states. A popular vote system would also ensure that every person’s vote matters and that the candidate with the majority/plurality of votes wins, reflecting what the American electorate wants.

I really liked how you introduced another approach we should take when it comes to voting and how the ranking system worked in other countries. I completely agree with the ranking system. When it comes to voting, the electoral system seems to eliminate the interest of voters.

Yara,
Your writing is very persuasive, and I fully agree with all your opinions in this piece! I think you demonstrate your ideas quite well and in a very effective manner. Your inclusion of examples of ranked voting and popular vote systems outside of the US also helps express your point even further. I think It would be really interesting to look beyond this and possibly outline the negative effects of this system to weigh the pros and cons, or, look into the process of making this concept a reality within the United States and laying out the congressional steps that need to be taken.