Dear Mr or Ms Senator,

Presient Richard Nixon, and President Bill Clinton both have something in common; they won their presidencies with the Electoral College, not the popular vote. (According to "In Defense of the Electoral College: five reasons to keep our despised method of choosing the President. Paragraph 22) Richard and Bill only won 43% of the popular vote against their opponents while they were running for office. This is why the United States needs to keep the Electoral College instead of switching to the popular vote for the elections.

Now you're probably wondering, does high school students even know what the Electoral College is and what it's job? Yes, high school students do know what the Electoral College is and what it does. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors. Your state amount equals one member from the House of Represenatives and two from the Senate. The electors are chosen from the candidate's political party. The Electoral College decides the president and vice president every four years every Tuesday ater the first Monday in the month of November.

Mr or Ms Senator, the Electoral College needs to stay instead of the popular vote because when you have the Electoral College you will get an outcome from it unlike the popular vote. Almost all states have the "winners take all" method which according to "What is te Electoral College" by the Office of the Federal Regisiter (Paragraph 7) this method is when all electors are awarded to the presidental candidate that is winning. Also the popular vote overrides the popular vote. In "In Defense of the Electoral College: Five reasons to keep our despised method of choosing the President" by Richard A. Posner (Pararaph 18) the 2012 presidental campaign for example it was the battle between Mitt Romney who is a Republican against Barack Obama who is a Democrat. Obama received only 51.3 percent of the popular vote and Obama got 61.7 percent of the Electoral College. As you can see the Electoral College overrided the popular vote which ultimately made him president. Also in "In Defense of the Electoral College: Five reasons to keep our despised method of choosing the Presiden" (Paragraph 22)take Richard Nixon's and Bill Clinton's presidental campaign. Those two only won 43% of their popular votes but they won their elections with the Electoral College. Without the Electoral College all three of these presides wouldn't have become President of the United States.

To continue on, the Electoral College should stay instead of the popular vote since one region of the United States doesn't have enough power of the Electoral Votes to make a presidental candidate win. Look at "In Defense of the Electoral College: Five reasons to keep our despised method of choosing the President" Mitt Romney doesn't campaign in the South part of the United States since he knows that he is popular in that region with the electors he doesn't bother camapigning there since he knows he will win their votes. But he has to campaign to other states and regions since he knows the South doesn't have enough power to make him president. And with that comes your swing states and the big states. Swing states listen to what the presidental candidates have to say since they are toss-up states. These swing states literally can "swing" the election. These are the states that are going to decide who the next president is. And that ties in with your big states; California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania are some of your big states since they have the most population out of the United States. These states can also be swing states since they have the most votes out of every state. With the power of the popular vote a presidental canidate can become president, and other regions will not have a say. But using the Electoral College that can't happen.

On the other hand, according to "The Indefensible Electoral College: Why even the best-laid defenses of the system are wrong" (Parargraph 14) the Electoral is outdated, irrational, and unfair. In "The Inefensible Electoral College: Why even the best-laid defenses are the system are wrong" by Bradford Plumer key names such as Jimmy Carter, Bob Dole, AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerece all want to get rid of the Electoral College and use the Popular Vote. Look at the presidency that was in 2000 with Al Gore against George W. Bush. Al Gore would have won the election if the election was based on the popular vote. He won the popular vote with over 60%! But unfortunately, he didn't win and lost to George W. Bush since Bush won the Electoral College votes. But some people don't really know what they are voting for in election which is why the Electoral College is the way to go. Also people complained with the "winners take all method" some candidates don't go to certain states and only focus on the swing states. In the 2000 campaign seventeen out of fifty states didn't see the candidates. But the candidates didn't go to those states since they knew they had no chance of winning those states and they needed to focus on the swing states to make sure they win the election. Many people do call the Electoral College an anachronism, but it doesn't need to stick in the past, it needs to be kept in the present and in the future.

Ultimately, Mr or Ms Senator, the United States needs to keep the Electoral College instead of the popular vote because you will always have an outcome and one region can't overpower another and make a candidate win the presidental campaign. Yes, as said before many people want to get rid of the Electoral College but it will stay with the United States and move forward with us people.

Sincerely,

A student