Dear state senator,

Ever since 1776, The United States of America has been a great example of freedom, excellence, and democracy. After all, the U.S. is one of the biggest supporters of democracy, and is all about the rights of their people. So imagine my shock to learn that this country, in fact, does not rely on it's people to vote for their leader. Which, to many people would be the simplest form of freedom out there. Instead, we have the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a number of electors that represent a state. "Your state's entitled allotment of electors equals the number of members in its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two for your Senators...." (What Is the Electoral College? by the Office of the Federal Register) In this quote, it explains that the Electoral College is based on the existing population in your state; therefore, the more people you have, the more electors the state receives. However, this sounds great and all, but in my opinion, a direct democracy would work great for this country because it would generate just representation of the people by allowing them to make the vote, encourage voters and remind them that they have a voice, and immediately destroy the chances of a representative to vote for an opposing candidate.

America is all about their people. And of course, the government wants to do what's best for them, right? Voting is a right that American citizens achieve when they reach the matured age of eighteen. It's supposed to feel like a blessing that we get to decide and have a voice in the process of election. But, with the Electoral College, it "...may turn off potential voters of a candidate who has no hope of carrying their state." (In Defense of the Electoral College: Five reasons to keep our despised method of choosing the President by Richard A. Posner) So the citizens of this country are beginning to feel like their say in this decision will have little to no impact. This will affect the amount of voters and will ultimately cause a huge problem in the way people feel about representation.

Enough about the people, how about the electors? "Can voters control whom their electors vote for? Not always." (The Indefensible Electoral College: Why even the best-laid defenses of the system are wrong by Bradford Plumer) This means that not even when the people vote for all their electors and they should be selecting the correct candidate, they may change their minds. Electors are people too, and people may have their opinions swayed and then the electors could vote for the other candidate. It is scary to think that the candidate everyone chose and was rooting for might not win because someone decided to make a different decision.

And some people might stand up for the Electoral College, say that "The winner-take-all method of awarding electoral votes induces the candidates...to focus their campain efforts on the toss-up states." (In Defense of the Electoral College: Five reasons to keep our despised method of choosing the President by Richard A. Posner) It later goes on to say that because of this, the citizens in the Swing States become the most thoughtful voters because they receive the most information on the candidates. However, wouldn't we, as a country, prefer all of our potential voters to be informed and well-aware of our candidates? "Because of the winner-take-all system in each state, candidates don't spend time in states...focusing only on the tight races in the 'swing' states." (The Indefensible Electoral College: Why even the best-laid defenses of the system are wrong by Bradford Plumer) Why should the fate of the presidency be laid in the hands of such a small amount of people when our country is meant to be for everybody in the land?

As a concluding statement, senator, I want you to consider my argument that we'd be better off without the Electoral College because citizens should be able to decide who they want to run, they should feel important, they should all be well-informed, and electors that change their minds wouldn't even be a problem anymore. Thank you for taking the time to consider my letter.

Sincerely,

Concerned Citizen