In defense of the Electoral College

To the editor:

Recently, our local political leaders and some readers of The Press have been critical of the Electoral College system. I wonder if they would be as critical if the decision went “their way.” However, I would like to address the following issues pertaining to the Electoral College system:

1. The United States is not a democracy but a federal republic where the opinions of each state count.

2. The founders wanted to encourage the growth of our nation by not simply concentrating power in the most populous areas.

3. The Electoral College gives strength to the two-party system that has served our nation well. It’s prevented us from being a victim to the chaos that multi-parties bring to government, i.e. Italy. 

4. It forces candidates to campaign in states where they normally would not go. If we went on popular vote, the only places visited would be four major cities: New York, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles. 

5. It would take a constitutional amendment to change it and I don’t think the prospects of that happening any time soon are great.

Democrats should look at their message and see how it has neglected the needs of citizens. They took too many working class voters for granted. It’s not only the presidency they’ve lost, but Congress, governorships plus state legislatures. Stop being left-wing extremists and they won’t have to worry about losing the Electoral College vote!

Dennis Donofrio