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rather than opposed to the President. Jefferson served his second term with a Vice President not so reckless and power hungry as Aaron Burr. The point, however, is that the contention that the Electoral College exists because of the twelfth amendment is incorrect.

The argument that technology does away with the need for the Electoral College disregards the reason the Electoral College was deemed necessary. That notwithstanding, anyone who watched the votes sway in Florida in 2000 because of technological flaws, or has had his or her identity stolen, should understand that technology is not foolproof. It is a popular argument, but it is unsound in both its reasoning and concept.

I would contend that many of the people who argue against the Electoral College were disgruntled by the election in 2000. However, that was not the first time a President was elected without receiving a majority of votes. Thomas Jefferson had fewer than half the electoral votes in 1800, tying the 99 Aaron Burr received. John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison, however, became Presidents despite having fewer votes than candidates they defeated. The elections of John Quincy Adams and Rutherford B. Hayes were far more controversial than the election of 2000, which was more in line with the controversial election of Benjamin Harrison. John Quincy Adams lost resoundingly to Andrew Jackson, but manipulated the Electoral College vote by promising a Cabinet position to the third place finisher. Together, they had more than one-half the electoral votes, though Jackson had the most. Rutherford B. Hayes' election in 1876 is, by far, the most controversial in American history. Not only did he lose the popular election to Samuel Tilden, who failed to get more than one-half the electoral votes, the process to elect the President through the House of Representatives in such circumstances was also circumvented. The Republican was elected by a committee of five, which was comprised of three Republicans and two Democrats. The elections of Benjamin Harrison in 1888 and George Bush in 2000 were the result of majority votes in the Electoral College, despite receiving fewer votes than another candidate.

The concept of democracy is not "he with the most votes wins;" it is "majority rules." To contend that the problem with the Electoral College giving us two Presidents who lost the popular vote, discounts that it also has given us Presidents who would not have won "popular majority" without

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