A letter featured in the July 3 Maine Sunday Telegram rightly points out that the Electoral College prevents majority rule. Why should a democracy be minority ruled?

Recently, three conservative judges who were appointed by a president who lost the popular vote (President Donald Trump), joined with other extreme conservatives to strike down a 50-year law ensuring American women bodily autonomy and privacy. A good majority of the country is clearly against revoking a woman’s right to choose.

One remedy to this problem of “minority rule” is for a number of additional states to sign on to the National Popular Vote bill, which thus far has been enacted by 15 states and the District of Columbia, totaling 195 electoral votes. States with 75 more are needed. The bill has passed at least one chamber in nine additional states with 88 more electoral votes, and one of those states is Maine. Please write to our state legislators, ask their views on the Popular Vote Bill and encourage them to support it.

The interstate compact would employ the one-person, one-vote principle in presidential elections, awarding the presidency to the candidate who gets the most votes nationwide. This would give candidates a reason to campaign in all 50 states, seeing each vote as equally important. This would likely increase voter turnout.

A president voted in by popular vote would need to appeal to a large segment of voters, in every single state, and would likely govern more from the center. Congress might actually pass laws instead of obstructing them.

Lorry Fleming
Bath

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