After two more letters misstating the facts of the electoral college and the national popular vote, I again have to respond. The compromise of the electoral college was to ensure that both equal member states, represented in the senate, and the people, represented in the house, had an intrinsic part in selecting the president. Marco, if you look at the makeup of the states at the time of ratification, many of the smaller states you lament had more equity, were northern states.
Addressing the national popular vote, the statement that it enhances the electoral college is false. It is an attempt to circumvent the Constitution and the amendment process. As I stated, every state that enters this compact is surrendering their votes to seven of the largest cities in the country. Article 2, section 1 and the 12th amendment does not allow states to appoint electors any way they wish but instructs them to vote by ballot for president and vice-president. That ballot is then sealed and sent to congress to be counted.
The founders wanted a more decentralized and constrained federal government. The compact creates a block of power that is only responsive to a small portion of the country. Instead. proportional appointment of electoral college votes pushed the power closer to the people.
The strongest fix I have heard of does provide a popular vote encouraging every candidate to garner support from across the county. The winner of the popular vote in each federal house district assigns that electoral college vote to that presidential candidate. Senate electoral college votes go to the winner of the state wide popular vote.
Stanley Shechter,
Aspen