More On The Electoral College

To the Editor:

With regard to Steve Bigham’s article, “Close Election Highlights Role of the Electoral College,” it seems that The Bee is not helping to clarify the actual purpose of voting by electoral college, but rather adding fuel to the fire by not explaining it in full. It is true that the electoral college “was created by the founding fathers because of a lack of trust in the average American’s ability to make an educated choice.” However, this explanation isn’t necessarily the reason why this process should be held to today.

The electoral college serves an important function in our government by making sure that each state, both big and small, have their voice heard. If candidates depended solely on popular vote, they need only campaign in large cities and a few states with the largest populations, in effect serving the interests of only those regions of the United States. Winning the votes of these areas would be enough for the popular candidate to win the election, without ever having considered the interests and needs of smaller communities. The electoral college requires that candidates pay attention to a broader range of voters throughout America, in order to gain enough electoral votes to win the election. This process mirrors the congressional system with regard to how each state’s interests are voiced on all national issues; one could say that by changing the way we vote, we ought to also be tampering with the way our state speaks on every national issue, not just the presidency.

Our Founding Fathers’ reasoning for developing this process was likely due to the fact that information, in those days, was not as easily disseminated as it is today, which may have had an effect on people’s ability to make the right choice. The lack of information in this article makes a sad statement that sometimes this assumption holds true even today.

Meredith and Rui DeSousa

6 Narragansett Trail, Sandy Hook      November13, 2000