A recent article about Senator Barbara Boxer (D.Calif.) discussed her plans to introduce new legislation that hopes to dismantle or abolish the electoral college . In the article, she states that her reasoning is due to her feelings that quotes a 2012 tweet from Donald Trump “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.” Which is quite interesting since although he won the electoral vote 290 to 232, Hillary Clinton has surpassed Donald by over a million popular votes and her lead is still growing. With the possible dismantling of the electoral college, I wanted to understand fully what it is and how it works.
While researching the electoral college, I found the following definition of the Electoral college as well as a Data Visualization to explain how the Electoral College works.
Per the National Archives and Record Administration, The Electoral College is a process, not a place. The founding fathers established it in the Constitution as a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.
The website was rich with information was honestly boring. I found myself lost and distracted try to understand the reasons behind the electoral college and its purpose. Although I agree with Tufte, that critical information should not be minimized into bullets and phrases, the technical report can illicit boredom and lead to a person missing vital information because of the package it is presented in.
I think a happy medium would be something that combines the two, like a Technical Report along with an Infographic or a Data Visualization. With this, I found the following Data Visualization created by Cristina Rivera for Washington Post. Her DataViz provides the reader/viewer a simplified version on the inner process of the Electoral College.
The following six images provide not only a written explanation of how the electoral college works but with fun and engaging visuals to support or expand on the written explanation. The visual is so simple and to the point. Readers are given the important information, to help avoid the feeling of being overwhelmed. Which is essential when explaining a process that can be quite daunting. So what are your thoughts on the slideshow below?
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Hi Ameenat…Nice juxtaposition of an electoral college dataviz slide show with the article that spurned you to look for a better way to present the information. The last slide mentions what would happen if no one wins a majority of electoral votes. That scenario would have made this election even more eventful. I wonder how Trump feels now about his 2012 tweet showing contempt for the electoral college?
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Hi Suzanne, So do I!
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Ameenat- Even as a Political Science major, I’ve always struggled to fully grasp the complexities of the Electoral College. I understand the Founding Fathers’ intent, but the realities are somewhat opaque. I like how you presented the article and dataviz slide show. They made it clear to me how the visual representation with minimal, but intentional information helps understanding. I was especially surprised to see “voters select electors on election day.” It seems as though many people vote the party line or just go down the ticket not even realizing who or what positions they are voting for. Your post reinforced the point of which this week’s lesson has reminded me- engage the audience and there will be better understanding. Thanks for sharing!
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