Dear Mr. Senator,

After reviewing information about the Electoral College, I believe that the Electoral College should not be used in deciding or electing the president of the United States.

"Under the Electoral College system, voters vote not for President, but for a slate of electors, who in turn elect the President." The sitation before states that it is not the President the voters are voting for, it is actually the electors that the people are voting for, who in turn will vote for the President. This situation does not allow for the people to directly vote for who they believe will be the best President. It is really in the hands of the electors who will become President.

Secondly, after realizing that the number of electoral votes decides if you beome President or not, the Presidential candidates are going to want to focus on obtaining the most votes as possible. After determining which states they "have in the bag", the candidates are going to put their campaigning efforts toward the "toss-up" or "swing states". Here they will have to compete in a tight race between the other party to sway the voters of the state to vote their way. This method of campaigning in the swing states doesn't allow for much campaining in the big, numerous votes states. An example of this would be that during the 2000 campaign, almost 20 states did not see the candidates at all as well as campaign ads. With the Electoral College system in place, Presidential candidates are focusing more on obatianing the "swing state" votes and not so much on supporting and visiting the states and people they know they have.

Finally, the system of electing electors who then vote for the President can be considered unpredictable. This being because the electors could at any time defy the will of the people. These shady electors, also known as "faithless electors", can deny to vote for their party's candidate and instead cast the vote for whomever they desire. This shows that it is not the people's choice, instead the choice of the elector. Also, the state legislatures are responsible for choosing the electors. This could cause an issue where the state legislatures are choosing electors who will vote for their party. Let's take it back to the 1960's where an example of this corruption almost took place. Segrigationists, or people who favored racial seperation, who were state legislatures in the state of Louisiana nearly suceeded in replacing the Democratic electors with new electors who would not vote for John F. Kennedy. This would've caused the popular vote to go to Kennedy's opponent. For the many reasons listed above, the Electoral College could be considered unpredictable and in some cases... shady.

Overall Mr. Senator, I believe that the Electoral College should not be used to determine who becomes the President of the United States instead they should use popular vote. This being because the people are not directly voting, the candidates are just focusing on getting the votes and not on the people. And lastly because it can be considered unpredictable with the "faithless electors" and bais state legislatures. In the words of Bob Dole, "Abolish the electoral college!"