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The Electoral College should be abolished because it doesn't always reflect the popular vote especially in close elections. The 2000 presidential election was one such occasion. In the election Al Gore won the popular vote by a slim margin of 50,996,582 to 50,456,062. However, George W. Bush became president because he received 271 electoral votes while Gore only received 266. The 2000 election wasn't an isolated incident either. There have been a few other instances in American history where this has happened, notably 1876 and 1888. (Microsoft Encarta 2004, Electoral College)

In the Electoral College process electors are elected by voters from the 50 states. It's this group of electors who nominally elect the president The number of electoral votes each state can cast is determined by the number of senators and representatives a state has. The Electoral College uses a "winner takes all" system. This system has been challenged but was upheld in a 1969 Supreme Court decision. (Microsoft Encarta 2004, Electoral College)The winner of the majority of a state's popular vote receives all of that state's electoral votes. In this way the popular vote isn't represented.

A candidate can win the majority by as little as one vote and still receive all the electoral votes. The smaller the winning margin is the larger the minority will be. If the presidential candidate wins the election solely on the electoral vote like in 2000 then essentially the minority's vote isn't represented.

A way to avoid this is to have a direct popular vote and get rid of the Electoral College. Alternatively it might be more acceptable to only modify the Electoral College. The "winner takes all" system could be replaced with a proportional one. If a candidate wins a majority of the popular vote in a state with 5 electoral votes and carries only 2 of the 3 congressional districts then he or she should receive 4 electoral votes, which equals the 2 districts and the winner of the majority of the districts also gets the 2 votes for the senators.

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