Dear Senator,

The Electoral College has been around since America was born. The founding fathers established it in the Consititution. Yes, there are some problems and concern with the Electoal College, but aren't there problems with everything in the world today? The pronalems can be fixed with some time and effort, and in my opiniion the Electoral College is more beneficial to the election process than harmful.

The Electoral College was created as a compromise and was agreed on by many. Some things people don't like about the Electoral College is that it's like a "winner-take-all" system, becuse then canidates don't spend time in states they know they're not going to win. But, with the winner-take-all system we will have a certain outcome with no disputes. This gives the canidate a landslide electoral-vote victory in a state. Also, the artice,"

In Defense of the Electoral College: Five reasons to keep our despised method of choosing the President"

says, "There is no pressue for a run-off election when no canidate wins a majority of the votes casts; that pressure, which would greatly complicate the presidential elecrion process, is reduced by the Electoral College, which invariably produces a clear winer."

Another concern with the Electoral College that people have is that voters aren't voting for the president, they're voting for the slate of electors, who elect the presodent. But, each party selects a slate of electors who votes for the party's nominee. We the people get to choose our slate of electors, so you get to choose who gets to vote for the president of your choice, which is fair. And, just because the canidate you didn't vote for wins the electoral vote, that doesn't mean they will win the national popular vote. For example, in 2000, Gore haad more popular votes than Bush, yet fewer electoral votes and we all know Bush still won.

The Electoral College also give "swing" states to play A HUGE role in the voting process. Most canidates focus their campaign efforts of the toss-up states, because the winner-take-all system. The swing states decide who the next president will be. They already know the states that they will get votes from, but the swing states are never consitant and always win someone the election. Also, states with a bigger population have more electoral votes, and by this the Electoal College restores some weight in the political balance by virtue of the mal-apportionment of the Senate ddecreed in the Constitution.

All-in-all, The Electoral College has more positives than negatives in these situations. It helps us have a certain winner, avoid runn-off elections, choose who we want to win the election, and gives states power. The Electoal College was put in the Constitution, and so poeple like Thomas Jefferson thoughht it was important that we have an election system like the Electoral College. In my opinion, whe you weigh out allthe pros and cons about the Electoral College the pros weight out all the cons. And, if there was a different system there would always be problems with that. People always try to find problems with everything, and you can never pleas everyone these days.

Thank you,

Ellyn Cowan