The way we elect our presidents in the United States is an embarrassment. First, voters do not vote directly for a presidential candidate, they vote for a slate of electors who, in half of the states, are not legally bound to vote the will of the people. More important, the relative influence of a vote varies from state-to-state depending on the voting population of the state. States with small populations get larger individual voter influence, while states with larger populations get less influence. A voter in Wyoming has a vote that counts four times as much as a vote in Florida; a voter in the Virginia has a vote that is worth less than a third as much as a voter in neighboring District of Columbia. This state-to-state variation in the relative value of votes is unfair anyone who lives in the larger states. ( It is especially unfair to ethnic and religious groups who live disproportionately in the larger states.)

Unequal votes in an election smacks of "elitism" and violates my sense of fair play and equal opportunity for all citizens. Even a child can understand that an election in which voters have different numbers of votes is unfair.

The small-state bias created by the Electoral College in our system of government is a major source of inequality and social injustice in America. (The reference below shows that it effectively disenfranchises about 6 million voters in every presidential election.) It was because colonial Americans were treated unequally by the British that we fought the Revolutionary War. It was because of unequal treatment of the slaves that led to the Civil War. The inequality and injustice caused by the Electoral College will lead to something similar if it is not reformed or replaced.

The only Electoral Reform options that can eliminate the inequality described above are direct election of the president by the people with instant runoff voting, or the House Plan (also called the neo-Wilsonian Plan) that awards Electors through the congressional districts, in proportion to the popular vote). All other options perpetuate the inequality and injustice caused by the Electoral College. Because it involves the minimum change to our system of government, I urge you to draft legislation or support legislation that changes the Electoral College according to the House Plan, which was first offered by James Wilson at the first Continental Congress and most recently in 1969 by Representative Frank Horton of New York. .

Sincerely yours,

P.S., You'll find an excellent source of facts about the Electoral College at http://www.oocities.org/gparish2000/index.html.