Electoral College serves purpose

There have been several letters bemoaning the Electoral College denying Ms. Clinton the presidency, making much of the idea that elections should represent “one person, one vote”.

The Electoral College was established to insure the person elected president represented people in all parts of a then much smaller country who held widely varying interests based both on background and geography of residence. Today the interests and geography of residence of the people of our nation vary even more widely.

The Electoral College attempts to insure that candidates appeal to the broad ranging interests of people throughout the country, not just to the interests of (typically) urban, coastal populations.

Excluding California, Mr. Trump won the election by over 2 million votes representing 31 of the states and over 51 percent of the votes cast. This appears to represent a much broader range of diverse support across multiple states and regions than that evidenced by Ms. Clinton.

Here in Washington, we see the effect of “one person, one vote” when state wide candidates can, and often do, ignore issues affecting Eastern Washington but not affecting the Seattle metropolitan area. The Electoral College is doing its job.

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 6:24 PM with the headline "Electoral College serves purpose."