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Thursday, March 28, 2024
March 28, 2024

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Letter: Protect Electoral College

By Ronald Edson, Vancouver
Published: October 15, 2020, 6:00am

It is very frustrating to see political views promoted from false perceptions of the U.S. Constitution, as in the letter to The Columbian “Abolish Electoral College” (Our Readers’ Views, Oct. 9). The U.S. is a federation of states, not a democracy of individuals. While each state’s number of electoral votes is determined by its population, except for Maine and Nebraska and some rare challenges by recalcitrant electors, all the votes of electors in a state are cast for that states’s presidential election winner. Some suggest instead that in each state a percentage of electoral votes be cast coinciding with the percentages of votes for each candidate (this would be about the same as abolishing the Electoral College).

Abolishing the Electoral College would be forsaking a fundamental concept of the federation of states type of government we were founded to be and should be approached with much more caution. What about the U.S. Senate? Each state has two senatorial votes regardless of state population. Should we abolish the Senate and the bicameral system?

If you think there is presidential campaign and governmental imbalance now due to state populations, just wait until the Electoral College is abolished. If you don’t live in one of the major population centers you just might as well not exist.

We encourage readers to express their views about public issues. Letters to the editor are subject to editing for brevity and clarity. Limit letters to 200 words (100 words if endorsing or opposing a political candidate or ballot measure) and allow 30 days between submissions. Send Us a Letter
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