The electoral system we have now has resulted in the disenfranchisement of states with either a majority party or a comparatively small population. Disenfranchised states are robbed or both their access to candidates and the opportunity to cast a meaningful vote.
Successful presidential candidates must use their very limited resources to win the support of those states that are both large and undecided. Resources spent on both small and politically decided states are completely wasted because of the Electoral College we have today. These resources are not limited to campaign spending. When candidates campaign in politically decisive communities, their campaign platforms reflect the issues that affect those communities. As candidates and incumbents look forward to their next election, they consider policies that will win the support of those same communities. There are no incentives to help those states that are small or politically decided. Voters' voices have been drowned out by the 'rules of the game' and we have to ask our selves why?
In a simple populous based election, each citizen would be able to vote as an individual. We could each have a voice that carried beyond the borders of our own state. Campaigns would then be forced to see this county as a whole and not as a collection of swing states; consequently, serving this country as a whole and not pandering to the specific needs of any select group of states.
Each voter wants their vote to be a part of an actual struggle for the presidency. In a way, we are all like political sports fans shouting encouragement to our team. We know that our voice is indiscernible in the crowded arena, but we cheer anyway. We don't cheer ourselves horse because we think that our voice alone will decide the game. We cheer because we're thrilled to be part of an exciting game, because we want to feel involved. We cheer because there is an actual contest going on.
Even if our vote never once decides who will be the next president, we still want to have that opportunity to cheer for our team in an arena where an actual contest is going on! The electoral system robs half the US population of that opportunity. Under the status quo, there is no real presidential race in the state of Utah, and we ask our selves again, why?
As a nation we claim to be concerned with an increasingly low voter turn out and yet we doggedly hang on to a system that disenfranchises half the voters in this nation. We claim to care about equality and yet our electoral system blatantly forces our leaders to play patsy to a select number of people in a select number of locations.
I believe that the replacement of the Electoral College by nation wide election is long overdue and the responsibility for this change rest squarely upon our own shoulders.
Luke Nichols
BYU Republicans President