Michael Buhelt of Gray (“Popular vote removes voice of Maine voters,” March 13) has a right to be concerned; but thankfully, the Maine House in Augusta rejected the move to bypass the electoral college. The electoral college allows small states like Maine to have a voice, be it small, but a voice. If Maine jumps on the bandwagon for the popular vote, you and I may as well not bother to vote. Just sit at home and wait to see which way the wind blows across the rest of country. Four states have, by far, the greatest populations; thusly their popular vote would determine the outcome of every election. Maine’s total population is only 1.3 million.
Those four states have huge cities adding up to millions of votes. These millions are city dwellers. Their issues are different from rural populations. For instance, city dwellers don’t mind if President Biden mandates electric vehicles for everyone by 2030. City dwellers take mass transit, the subway, a cab. Rural Mainers in Houlton and Caribou have no mass transit, maybe a Greyhound. They often drive 20 or 30-plus miles to get to a destination; and by the way, the Biden administration has yet to install a single EV kiosk anywhere. If you’re willing to follow the crowd, to let someone else take your voice away, to forfeit your opinion, your concerns, then by all means, go with the popular vote.
Bypassing the electoral vote is another example of changing the rules just as ranked choice voting was changing the rules. These are intentional manipulations of the election process in order to cause sway in a particular direction.
Pamela Brant
Westbrook
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