Letter: The case for direct presidential voting in America
Seriously, why are we so fixated on either political figure (Trump, Hillary, or vice versa) we love to despise or despise to love? We have a centuries-old tradition of not letting our popular, direct votes count toward the individuals we want to lead our nation. Instead we have an unnecessary and expensive system called the “electoral college,” or simply the “college,” which does marvels for our country’s election system.
The problem with the electoral college is that it provides for indirect, not direct votes, so the candidate with most popular votes gets kicked out of the race in favor of the one with 270 or more votes. Sounds Constitution-pleasing, no? I think it is arcane and a disservice to our democratic political system because it does not count our casted votes.
Some compromises might not be the way to go. We must go to direct voting for both local and congressional elections. It’s what our country, regardless of our political views really are, badly needs if we want our democracy to become stronger.
Erick Dietrich, Walla Walla
This story was originally published November 24, 2016 at 4:07 AM with the headline "Letter: The case for direct presidential voting in America."