How much does my vote matter?

The Electoral College is deeply flawed

Is our country a true representative democracy? And what is a true representative democracy? If our country is a representative democracy, then why don’t all our votes count? Why do we elect our president using an outdated system that lets only a few votes matter? Ever since I learned about the Electoral College system, I have been confused. In Humanities class this Fall semester, I researched this topic from numerous sources and concluded U.S. voters should be entitled to have a vote that directly counts towards electing their president; therefore, I believe all states should sign the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact to stop the use of the Electoral College.

The Electoral College was originally established with racist motives and to limit voters to only the most wealthy, elite, and well-educated white men. It gives each state a number of electors, which is their number of seats in Congress (Washington, D.C. also gets three electoral votes), according to Elizabeth Rusch’s 2020 book “You Call This Democracy?” So if you ever said, “I voted for the president,” you’d be wrong. You actually voted for your state’s electors, who then voted for you. Usually, the Electoral College gives the presidency to the candidate who also won the popular vote. However, there have been five instances when the winner of the Electoral College did not win the popular vote: votes. Three million. Was it really fair that Trump went on to serve as president for four years, especially when three million more citizens voted for his competitor?

Many, including myself, do not think so.

The Electoral College also focuses the election race in only a few states. All states except for two abide by a winner-takes-all— and flawed—system when counting their electoral votes. But if you live in a ‘spectator state’ where there is a clear majority of one party, your vote won’t necessarily count. Because of this majority, one party’s candidate often wins that state’s electoral votes. Some examples are California, Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, and Texas.

Let’s look at Montana, for example. Montana has a clear Republican party majority and its electoral votes historically went to the Republican candidate. What would that mean if you are a Democratic voter in Montana? Because Montana uses the winner-takes-all system for counting votes like forty-seven other states, your vote wouldn’t count towards the election. Yes, it would count for the popular vote. But does the popular vote earn a Presidency? No, it doesn’t.

Maine and Nebraska are the two states in the country that use the ‘Congressional District Method.’ Maine enacted this bill in 1972; Nebraska did twenty years later in 1992. This system gives two electoral