Don't mess with Electoral College

One of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln, did not win the popular vote. Among three presidential candidates, Abraham Lincoln received 1,865,908 votes (39.8 percent) and 180 electoral votes in serving as the 16th president of the United States.

We use the Electoral College because that is the method devised by our Founding Fathers and it's the fairest method anyone can come up with for electing the president. The United States is a Constitutional Federal Republic and not a direct democracy. In other words, a federation of states with a representative democracy.

At the Continental Convention, battle between big and small states was a major topic and nearly ended hopes of creating a national government. Benjamin Franklin, a delegate, summed up the disagreement: "If a proportional representation takes place, the small States contend that their liberties will be in danger. If an equality of votes is to be put in its place, the large States say their money will be in danger."

Today, each state is still sovereign in itself, united under a federal government, which is why this country is named the United States of America. Each state votes its apportioned share of votes instead of simply tallying up the popular votes of the entire country, which gives all the political power to California and New York; but no power to Rhode Island or New Hampshire.

Our Founding Fathers designed the perfect way for each state to represent itself in a presidential election; they knew the total popular vote would not always reflect the election. That is the reason they devised the Electoral College; leave it alone.

The Electoral College gave us Abraham Lincoln and saved the federation of states in the Civil War.

Robert Meale

Crystal Lake