Letter from Jerry Spriggs in West Linn, OR:
The 2016 presidential election is behind us and many are surprised – some disappointed and others jubilant. Criticism of the Electoral College by both sides has become the bold new national sentiment. Surely it’s antiquated. Surely it must go. Surely we can do better.
And we can!
The Founding Fathers were not so terribly amiss as many may think. Sure we’re a larger expanse of nation, geography-wise, and we’re more populated than the late 1800s. But the Electoral College mechanism still works. So why did one presidential candidate (Hillary Clinton) win a majority of popular votes and the other candidate (Donald Trump) seem to steal the election?
The culprit is not the Electoral College itself. Rather, our stumbling arises out of the all-or-nothing approach we take when we tally the popular votes and convert them into electoral votes suitable for the Electoral College result. The Electoral College does not need to be replaced.
Equal Voice Voting offers the best of solutions without requiring a Constitutional amendment (visit www.equalvoicevoting.com and download the free book analyzing presidential elections from 1980-2012). It’s a simple formula that converts a state’s popular votes into proportional electoral votes that hew closely to the popular vote, does not disenfranchise voters, gives each state its independent voice, honors the Founding Fathers’ intent and acknowledges this nation’s diverse cultures, peoples, values and priorities.
It’s time to initiate legislation on a state-by-state basis so our vote-capturing system elicits a confidence that translates into a continued pride of country. The exercise of our Electoral College can be a source of such confidence if we simply modify how we count everyone’s vote. Contact your legislators and ask that they give Equal Voice Voting their strong consideration!
The News welcomes commentaries and letters to the editor. Submissions should be 600 words or less and emailed to [email protected] by noon on Monday for publication in that week’s paper. The News reserves the right to edit for style, punctuation and length.