Students question the efficiency of The Electoral College

Zoe Deno
Staff Writer

Hudson Valley students are expressing their concerns with the state of the upcoming general election as it relates to the Electoral College, and the candidates up for election.

“I think that the Electoral College is a joke. It’s absolutely absurd that we are branded down to two candidates and we can’t do anything about it. A third party can gain popularity, but it is nearly impossible for it to win an election let alone a single state,” said Student Senate Vice President Stephen Pelletier.

According to Pelletier, the Electoral College was founded during the birth of the U.S. “It was originally brought together so that we could have people who were very educated with their government select a president and leadership for people who didn’t even know how to read.”

“I would say [this election] is an example of the failure of the Electoral College. We narrowed ourselves down to two people who aren’t favorable even among the people who support them,” said Pelletier.

With some students finding the methods used in the Electoral College outdated, some find it takes away the voting rights from the people. “[The Electoral College] doesn’t necessarily feel like it is run by the people,” said business administration student Donald VanPatten.

Liberal arts major Grace Sgambettera believes that the issues occurring at the federal level are an indicator of the problems in our government. “It doesn’t get very much done. I think that there’s a lot of respectability in politics without any actual substance.”

Liberal arts student Jared Przekurat said, “I feel as though the Electoral College system doesn’t really get a general consensus on how the public feels. That’s clearly shown by the fact that Bernie Sanders was clearly a majority favorite for the demographic that’s going to be voting in the majority for the next 50 years.”

“When it comes to [the relationship] between the house and the senate the lack of bipartisan relationships is really bad. The rest of it [the government] could be fixed if we would be willing to work with one another,” said Sgambettera.

Many students feel that aside from the Electoral College the problems with this election lie within the candidates themselves.

“There were a lot of good candidates, but the wrong ones were picked to be in the primaries. I feel like this election is a joke. It’s like one big meme,” said VanPatten.

Business administration student Nathan Rushford feels that this year’s election is going to be emotionally prolific. “I think a lot of it is going to be volatile, there is going to be a lot of violence if one person wins from the other side,” said Rushford.

Liberal arts student Benjamin Candib said, “There are other things that are going on besides the presidential election. Even if we do vote [in the election] it won’t make a difference. Hillary will win the state.”

Candib went on to encourage other students to pay more attention to the Senate and House elections. He especially recommends that students pay special attention to local elections.

“They are the ones making the decisions that will affect you directly. If there is a local election going on that is something to pay attention to,” said Candib.

Pelletier said, “[The Electoral College] shows that we are not ready to vote; we do not care enough to vote because our vote doesn’t matter. Under the Electoral College system, to some degree, that is true. Despite this, everyone should get out to vote.”