Barron letter: Electoral College
To understand the importance of the Electoral College in modern presidential elections we must understand the nature of our nation. We are a republic.
In a republic the important entities are its members. In the United States the meaningful entities are the states. Each of the 50 states is a member. Since the states are the members of our republic, the total number of people who reside within them is irrelevant.
People tend to concentrate population densities within cities, but both rural and urban groups would prove critical to the health of the entire nation. Cities would provide manufacturing and manpower, rural areas agriculture and raw resources. Without a balance of power between the groups that wasn’t based on total population, larger groups would always trend toward becoming tyrannical.
When a national presidential election is held the popular vote of each state is not a mandate to the winning party’s leadership of the will of the people. Population does have meaning because states are given a number of seats on the Electoral College commensurate with their overall populations.
Presidential elections are determined by the will of the states (the members) and not the will of the people.
Ann S. Barron, Boise
This story was originally published December 29, 2016 at 4:25 PM with the headline "Barron letter: Electoral College."