To Whom it May Concern:

The Electoral College is the cause of many political disagreements and problems whenever mentioned. Although established in the constitution, it is seen as undemocratic by many. The Electoral College takes away the ability of citizens to vote for their president; instead they are voting for Electors, not always loyal to the canidate. As a result, I believe the Electoral College should only be used in instances of a tie between two canidates.

Each presidential canidate has a group of Electors, which will be part of the Electoral College process after the popular vote is taken. The Electoral College proccess consists of the selection of electors, the meeting in which the vote for both President and Vice President occurs, and then the votes are counted by Congress. (Office of the Federal Register)¹ When the popular vote occurs, and the canidates are selected, the votes are tallied, and then the electors of the two canidates attend the meeting, and then the final decision for President is made. This is viewed as undemocratic, because there have been instances where the Electoral College dissagrees with the popular vote. Such as the case of Al Gore in 2000, who won the popular vote, and then lost the Electoral vote and therefore his presidency.(Bradford Plumer)² This caused over 60 percent of voters, to wish for a direct election opposed to the electoral proccess, according to a Gallup poll, also occuring in 2000. (Bradford Plumer)²

Anotherr issue within the electoral college, is the electors themselves. While they may claim to be loyal to their canidate, loyalties can be bribed, changed, or electors may even be replaced with only a certain party (Republican or Democratic). Which occured in Louisiana in 1960. The segregationists almost replaced Democratic electors, with ones who would instead oppose Kennedy, as a sabotage attempt at Kennedy's Presidency.(Bradford Plumer)² There have also been cases in which the loyalty of the elector was switched, and the citizens were seemingly forgotten at the electoral college. While there are over millions of people residing in the United States, there are only 538 Electors, and the fate of our country is put in Electors who can't be trusted.

Over 60 percent of Americans oppose the Electoral college, but there are still some which still believe in the compromise established by our founding fathers. The Electoral College provides a smaller chance of election ties, and an equal vote from each state. While a tie is possible in the popular voting system, it is also possible in the Electoral College, with 538 electors, 269 votes from each side can cause a huge dissagreement within our Legislative System, which could be avoided by using only the popular vote. When politicians and presidential canidates are looking for votes, they most commonly travel to the larger states, because of the larger population. A larger population provides an even larger chance of obtaining voters. But, this leaves the small states with no attention from canidates, and a smaller population weakens the states chance of the canidate they desire. Every vote counts for a canidate,5,559 voters from Ohio, and 3,687 from Hawaii stopped a tie by voting. (Bradford Plumer)² Even the small states contribute in a presidential elections, their votes are just as big as ours, even if their states ae small.

The founding fathers formed the Electoral College as a compromise, and hundreds of years later, I believe it is time for a compromise once again. The popular vote, should become the deciding vote for who is elected as President, Vice President, etc. With this, the chance of a tie comes, so i propose that the Electoral College remain only for the purpose of a tie in the popular vote, or if state legislature has reason to believe this canidate is not the best for America.

¹Excerpt from "What is the Electoral College?" by the Office of the Federal Register,from www. archives. gov/federal-register/electoral-college/about. html. In the public domain

²Excerpt from " The Indefensible Electoral College: Why even the best laid defenses are wrong" from Mother Jones by Bradford Plumer. Copyright © 2004 by Mother Jones and the Foundation for National Progress. All Rights Reserved. Permission Pending.