Electoral College is all that matters

I am a Democrat. I did not vote for Donald Trump, but I find it silly that the elitist left and right coasts are screaming foul because Hillary Clinton got more popular votes.

First, we do not elect presidents by popular vote. Lincoln led the popular vote in 1860 with only 38.9 percent of the vote. He resoundingly won the Electoral College vote.

Despite having more popular votes, Clinton did not come close to 50 percent. She may have more popular votes than Trump, but all that means is that more than half of the voters voted for neither of them. In every election I have witnessed, which were decided by popular vote, if no candidate won 50 percent of the vote, there needed to be a runoff.

Imagine a runoff for the presidency and the subsequent recounts in all 50 states in a super close election to try to gain a vote here and a vote there.

There are a number of reasons for the Electoral College system. States rights is part of that – giving more power to small states than is warranted by population. According to Federalist Paper No. 10, concern of foreign interference was also of concern to the framers.

This story was originally published December 16, 2016 at 12:03 PM with the headline "Electoral College is all that matters."