s the electoral process itself by encouraging candidates to focus on certain states to the exclusion of others, deluging them and their ‘swing voters’ with advertising. Some small states worry that if the Electoral College were eliminated they would be neglected by presidential candidates, but most of the swing states tend to be large ones rather than small ones (which are not worth the trouble)”(Judis 10). Yet again, the paranoid notion that small states might lose the voice currently possessed restrains the overall ability of the country to adapt its election system with the 21st century. Even with all of these problems, no changes have been made. Why? Its not like there haven’t ever been any efforts to change. For example, in 1969, an effort to abolish the Electoral College was sent to the House and passed overwhelmingly. This effort also had the support of the president, but was filibustered immensely and killed with a 52-48 vote in the senate. (Cohen) The two-thirds majority wasn’t reached and the issue was left to sit until 1997 when a man by the name of LaHood managed to get a hearing for the proposed elimination of the Electoral College in the House Judiciary Constitution Subcommittee. The panel’s chairman, Charles J. Canady, said, “There are indeed potential problems with the current manner in which we elect our president…(and the public) would not understand the election of a president who had not received the most votes in the election”(Cohen). However, once it was determined the current system was supposedly doing a good job, no further action was taken. Should America ever do away with the Electoral College, who would benefit and who wouldn’t? In other words, would the ends justify the means? Areas where population is higher would still receive the most political attention and those places more sparsely populated would still be brushed aside. “It ...
