Letter: Electoral College is needed to help small states be as important as larger states

Since the 2000 election, there have been many who have questioned the purpose of the electoral college. The following represents the facts as to why we need the electoral college.

According to the 2010 census, the total population of the United States is 308,745,538 citizens. If we were to decide the president of the United States based on obtaining 51 percent of the population, that would require 157,460,225 votes.

The following are 10 states which have the highest populations in descending order: California – 37,253,956; Texas – 25,145,561; New York – 19,378,102; Florida – 18,801,310; Illinois – 12,830,632; Pennsylvania – 12,702,379; Ohio – 11,536,504; Michigan – 9,883,640; Georgia – 9,687,653; North Carolina – 9,535,483.

The total population of these states equals 166,755,220 which is above the requisite 51 percent needed.

A candidate would only have to campaign in these 10 states and they'd have won the election. That is the genius behind our system. The electoral college is a system designed by our founders so that the smaller states have a chance against the larger states. As election time nears, we need to remember that this system of government was set up by men who had studied all previous governments, why they failed and why they succeeded, before then forming ours.

John Lineback

Sandy