The Electoral College was, at one time, the single most efficient and reliable way to conduct a presidential election.  Due to geographical and technological deficiencies, it provided an accurate and time efficient manner with which to conduct a democratic election.  However, it is a product of an era that is now the past instead of the present. 

The Electoral College does not allow the opinion of the people to be heard, opting for a point based system that puts higher value on states with higher populations.  In this year’s election it will take a minimum of 11 states to win.  They combine to represent 59.81 percent of the population based off the 2010 consensus.  However, it will only take 50.01 percent of the vote in each state to secure their Electoral College votes.  That means a candidate could win the presidency with as small as 29.91 percent of the country voting for him or her. 

America was founded to be a country of the people, by the people and for the people.  I can’t imagine our Founders believed in a democracy where less than 30% of the population could choose the president. In a country where we can communicate face to face with anyone we wish, it is time to begin electing or presidents through the popular vote.  The technology has arrived to allow us to do so and anything short of a complete move away from the Electoral College is as irresponsible as it is archaic.