Abolish the Electoral College

How the Electoral College Works After the votes in each state are counted, the political party whose candidate received a majority in a particular state is allowed to choose a slate of electors who will cast the real votes for President. We vote for President in November, but the 538 electors cast an official ballot in December. The candidate who receives a majority of the electoral votes (currently 270) wins the election. Problems People's votes and electoral votes do not count the same. "Each individual vote in Wyoming counts nearly four times as much in the Electoral College as each individual vote in Texas. This is because Wyoming has three (3) electoral votes for a population of 532,668 citizens (as of 2008 Census Bureau estimates) and Texas has thirty-two (32) electoral votes for a population of almost 25 million. By dividing the population by electoral votes, we can see that Wyoming has one elector for every 177,556 people and Texas has one elector for about every 715,499." http://www.fairvote.org... By giving smaller states more electoral votes per person than larger states, disparity was created across the nation in regards to the significance of each citizens" vote. With the Electoral College, the value of a vote depends on what state a person lives in. http://www.huffingtonpost.com... Under the Electoral College, your vote is only valuable if you align with the majority of people from your state. If you are a Republican in Massachusetts, your vote will likely not matter because the majority of people are Democrats and thus only the Democratic votes will count toward choosing the president. Only if you live in a swing state (less than 10 states) does your vote really have significance, because it helps establish the majority. There is no overwhelming support for ideology in a "safe state" so the electoral college only makes an individual's vote matter significantly in a swing state. https://en.wikipedia.org... According to a study done by Jesse Ruderman, "A presidential candidate could be elected with as a little as 21.8% of the popular vote by getting just over 50% of the votes in DC and each of 39 small states. This is true even when everyone votes and there are only two candidates. In other words, a candidate could lose with 78.2% of the popular vote by getting just under 50% in small states and 100% in large states." https://www.squarefree.com... When someone with barely above 1/5 of the popular vote can win an election, that is not good for democracy. That is not reflecting the voices of the people but rather playing politics. In 2000 Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the presidency to George W Bush. The course of American history could be significantly different if the more popular president won. Another thing to consider is unbound electors. There is no federal law that requires electors to vote as they have pledged. There are 21 states in the union that have no requirements of, or legal control over, their electors. So the state"s electors are free to vote however they please, including no vote at all, with no real legal penalty. Even in the states that do have control, often the punishment is very minor (some states issue only minimal fines as punishment). http://www.fairvote.org... The electoral college encourages the 2 party system, because people think they have to vote for the "lesser evil" in order for their vote to count. With the Electoral College, the voting power of the people has been diluted and unequally distributed, when each citizen's vote should hold equal weight and significance for the sake of democracy.