Should we change the electoral college from Population to number of actual voters

I certainly won"t contest reasons given on why people don"t vote other than adding apathy and loss of faith in the system. I do argue that political outcomes do affect ALL citizens' lives. For example, budget spending, the increase or decrease of dollars allotted to social programs. In 2013 the food stamp budget was cut from $75 billion to $39 billion. Taking into account 47.8 million people were on some sort of food assistance during an economic depression; 14.5% of the population was affected. The federal government also makes policy pertaining to criminal justice with penalties and guidelines, which also includes the ATF. Civil Rights, pertaining to discrimination, gender issues, and same sex marriage, to point out a recent issue. Taxation affects every family, and well, as education policies, environmental regulations, Medicare, Social Security, as well as foreign affairs. At some junction the government does impact on every citizen young, old, voter or non-voter, even green card holders who can"t vote at the Federal level. On the point of a single vote reflecting an outcome, "minuscule to even count," in certain elections that is true. Some presidents came to office not by the popular vote, but by Electoral College votes. George W. Bush for example when Al Gore received the popular vote; as well as Benjamin Harrison and John Quincy Adams. Enacting your premise that the Electoral College be based on actual voters, here are projections. Using the last Presidential 2012 election as basis for the argument, there was an estimation of 57.5% of the registered voting population turning out. 222 Million people were eligible to vote (VEP). Of this number, 52 million were not registered. 170 million actual voters cast a ballot representing 56.5% of the total population of 313 million. It is projected that there will be a further decrees in voter participation in the next Presidential election due to new eligibility requirements; example: Photo IDs. These have become very contentious in some states and are more frequently enacted in the Republican held South Eastern and South Central States. The premise is to prevent voter fraud (.00000013% of voters convicted in fraud cases). On the flip side, it is argued ID requirements are being used to disenfranchise the voting poor, as well as black and Latin populations that are more prevalent in these states and who"s rates of casting ballots are as high as 70% (scratch your chin for a moment on this one) Let"s assume with this data that actual voters decline just by a conservative estimate of 2%; it still represents just slightly more than half of the total US population; that includes children (24% of the total) that are considered on what affects their lives. 45% of the remaining people need to have representation, whether they vote or not. The Electoral College facilitates this end being based on population. To enact an electoral college based on actual voters would further the divide of true representation, especially along party lines. Many have reason and want to vote, but can"t. Though apathy may loom large, in southern states as well as rural population areas; being considered as a part of a citizenry is a must. Addressing your point with Oregon, Maine and Minnesota; they are voter friendly states. Oregon has a vote by mail system. Maine and Minnesota has same day voter registration with no voter ID requirements. Texas has one of the strictest voter ID laws which continues to be contested in the Supreme Court. And yes, we are in agreement that voter incentives are needed to produce a higher turnout. But as the tide turns, it appears that the ability to vote is being skewed to the other majority, whites over 30 with incomes greater than the national average. A day off work holiday to vote would be a nice start, but registration, ID and other voter friendly policies need to be addressed, not a change in the Electoral College. https://en.wikipedia.org... http://www.usatoday.com... http://www.usimmigrationblog.com... http://www.enchantedlearning.com... http://www.loc.gov... http://americanhistory.about.com... http://www.diffen.com... http://thedataweb.rm.census.gov... http://ballotpedia.org... http://abcnews.go.com... http://www.cnn.com...