There is currently an activist group (with help from FairVote) pushing an effort to eliminate the electoral college and go with a popular vote for the presidency.

This would be a mistake for several reasons. First, is would give densely populated regions power over less densely populated regions. Second, it could create a situation in which a small majority of voters could violate the rights of the minority.

These are the two main reasons our founders gave us the electoral college. America is a representative republic, not a pure democracy, our founders installed many checks against tyranny; the electoral system is one of them.

There are other reasons a popular vote for the presidency would be dangerous, such as someone winning the presidency on pure charisma, rather than on qualifications; or problems with what to do if someone gets less than 50% of the vote – as when Clinton gained office in 1992 with 43% of the vote. What do we do, have a runoff?

That would bring up problems with Instant Runoff Voting, which is also a bad idea, and which has been ruled as unconstitutional by the MN Supreme Court.

Our current system was put in place for good reason. Our country is a union of states. Each state chooses a number of electors for the vote for the presidency - this is because it is the states which elect the president, not the people directly.

This was done to protect the Constitutional Republican form of government which was instituted in order to secure and defend the rights of the people. It would be one more step toward tyranny if we were to abolish one of the methods devised for the preservation of our republic..