Dear State Senator,

I would like for you to change it to popular vote because ...

Under the electoral college system, voters vote not for the president, but for a state of electors, who in turn elect the president. If you lived in Texas for example and you wanted to vote for

John Kerry, you'd vote for a slate of 344 democratic electors pledged to

Kerry . On the off-chance that those electors won the statewide election, they would go to Congress and Kerry would get 34 electoral votes. Who are the electors? They can be anyone not holding public office. Who picks the electors? They can be anyone not holding public office. Who picks the electors in the first place ? It depends on the state, sometimes state conventions, sometimes the presidential candidates themselves. Can voters control who their electors vote for? Not always. Do voters sometimes get confused about the electors and vote for the wrong candidate? Sometimes.

Also, the electoral college is what we might call the disaster factor. Consider that state legislatures are technically responsible for picking electors, and that those electors could always defy the will of the people.

Most worrying thing is that of a tie in the electoral vote. In that case, the election would be thrown to the House of Representatives, where state delegations vote of the president.

At the most basic level, the electoral college is just unfair to the voters. Because of the winner - take - all systemin each state, candidates don't spend time in states they know they have no chance of winning, focusing only on the tight races in the "swing" states.

Electoral college is unfair, outdated, and irrational. Therefore, you should change it to popular vote, not electoral college.