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The electoral college system is outmoded and inappropriate. The principle reason for the creation of an electoral college was to minimize the impact of the discrepancy in population between states. However, remember the context. The electoral college is a concept from the time of legalized slavery and when a wife was treated as a man's property. Fortunately, America has advanced considerably since then, however the presidential election procedure has not. The imbalance in population among our states continues to be a fact of life. However, the relative ease of moving from one state to another is beyond doubt. Thus, states with large populations, such as California, New York and Texas, have many more electoral votes than less densely populated states, like Wyoming, North Dakota and Rhode Island. However, why shouldn't every American's vote count equally, regardless of state of residence?

The existence of the electoral college system is why George W. Bush became president, although Al Gore won a plurality of the popular vote. If America's president were chosen by popular vote, the claims of election fraud in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004 would not be relevant.
Instead of the political machinations of counting electoral votes, everything would be decided by the total national vote count. It would not matter which state you voted in, since all would have equal weight. Granted, there could still be allegations of voting irregularities,
however it is much less likely that candidates would be separated by a few hundred votes, as happened in Florida.

Given the highly politicized nature of American presidential elections this century and the extremely divisive policies of George W. Bush, who considered his controversial selection as a mandate, the election process should be made more transparent. The sanctity of the citizens' intent should be paramount by making the presidential election decided the day of the election. Eliminating the electoral college would contribute to transparent democracy.

It is beyond doubt that a vote in a highly populous state currently counts for less than a vote in a less populous state. At the time of American independence, states were virtually independent countries and smaller states' rights were jealously guarded. Since then, the federal government has expanded its role in our lives beyond the imaginations of the founding fathers. That is a fact of life in the modern world. That was then and this is now. It is now time that America align

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