The Electoral College

       Over the years, people have argued whether or not the electoral college should be abolished or not. Opposers say that the Electoral College is flawed because it does not represent every citizen, there is a chance of electing a president that the majority of the nation did not want, and that the complicated system could deter voters since their votes do not really count. These are issues that are concerning, but with these cons in mind, the Electoral College should not be abolished.
       With the system of the Electoral College, every state gets representation. They all have to ability to garner some sort of importance. Politicians looking towards a presidency cannot ignore states such as Wyoming, Idaho, or Montana, forcing candidates to reach out to these states to a degree. Under a system of electing a president through popular vote, what is to keep the candidate from only pandering to cities like Houston, New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. They would get many votes from those areas and could completely neglect smaller regions because they would have no reason to go there. 
       For me, another point for the Electoral College would be the actual U.S. citizens. As long as the majority of the nation is uninformed and uneducated in realm of politics, why would we trust them over the Electors to choose the president. We elected our Senators and Representatives so we should trust them to a degree. There are even 29 states that have faithless elector laws that keep Electors from voting against the will of the people who elected them. Faithless electors don't come around often and much of them have come because a candidate passed away, such as in 1872 when Horace Greeley's death changed 63 votes. It is even rarer in recent times. From 2000 to now, there have only been two faithless electors. Furthermore, do we really trust all voters, especially when we know how many American citizens really have no idea when it comes to government. We have many people who are one issue voters. In this election, a vast majority of people are voting for Donald Trump ONLY for the fact that he is against abortion. They have disregarded everything dangerous about this man solely for that one issue. That is scary. Imagine under a popular vote, there is a major party candidate whose major platform is marijuana legalization. With how popular legalization is what would happen if they won the presidency because of that one issue, and the rest of their stances and policies are extremely awful. I will trust the Electors, since I voted for them, over an uninformed uninterested public three and a half out of every four years. 
        Probably the most important aspect of the Electoral College is the fact that it keeps the election to a two person race due to party affiliations. Most people consider themselves either Republicans or Democrats, so there is a good chance that their interests are being expressed under the two candidates. The lack of a third or even fourth party causes less division among the nation. Under a popular vote system, then you could vote for anyone, diluting the presidential race. For example, a popular vote election could have more candidates in the race, such as the now popular Evan McMullin in the race with Clinton and Trump. If you have many candidates to choose from and each candidate gets a good amount of votes, you could very well get a president winning an election with 30% of the vote. Imagine having a president that 70% of the population did not vote for. This year's election is one of those rare times where nobody really want either candidate in office, resulting in cries for a change in our voting system. 
       The Electoral College definitely has some flaws, but at this time it is our only system in electing our president. The Electoral College is constitutionally protected and would need a new amendment to abolish it. To do so, at least 38 states would have to agree to get rid of this system. I cannot see this happening since it protects the interests of so many smaller states and keeps them relevant. Also, if you were to abolish the Electoral College you would have to replace it with a better system and I believe that if there was a better system, the Electoral College would have already been replaced. In no means do I think the way we chose our president is perfect. Of course it is flawed. One change that I would like to see is the removal of the winner take all aspect of the states. There are places like Austin, who in a red state, will probably never have their voices heard. If partial votes could go either way depending on how the districts voted, I think that would be a major improvement. Either way do not let the Electoral College discourage you having your voice heard. Go out November 8th and vote!