Boot the Electoral College: Salon

System is an undemocratic throwback, writes Garrett Epps
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 13, 2007 5:44 PM CDT
Boot the Electoral College: Salon
As the 2008 Presidential election approaches, many are seeking what they call an overdue change in the way individual votes are counted.   (Shutterstock.com)

The Electoral College is "a loaded gun pointed directly at the heart of our democracy," writes Garrett Epps in Salon, and it's high time to get rid of the throwback designed to protect slave ownership. No part of the Constitution has failed more, he argues, citing the 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000 elections, when the popular-vote winner was defeated in the Electoral College. 

Nowadays, writes Epps, the electoral system skews conservative by denying large population blocs a cohesive voice. Al Gore, for example, could have carved a majority based on populous regions in the Northeast, California, and parts of the Midwest. What's more, the system rewards states for controlling results by preventing certain individuals from voting, which isn't very, well, democratic. (More electoral college stories.)

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