Dear President,

Although I am a few years behind the voting age, there is a problem that i see within the system that makes me, and my fellow peers, not want to vote. That system is called the electoral college.

This issue matters to me, because I feel the traditional ways of electing a president have become obsolete. The electoral college was introduced into the system when our country was so divided that there was not the right technology to efficiently count every single vote. Today, we have more than the right technology to count every voting American’s vote. This issue matters to a larger population because American citizens do not actually vote to elect the next President of the United States. Every state has a representative that we vote to go to the electoral college, under oath they are instructed to vote for the person who has the majority votes within the state. When our country was smaller and we had less technological advancements this was the best way to count votes; now that we are a huge country that is very politically divided this old way of counting votes is not very efficient and it causes many Americans to believe the two main parties running for office, are our only options when that couldn’t be more untrue.

My personal experience connects to the issue on a national level in the following manner; according to an article, “45% of Americans ages 18-29 voted in the 2012 election, 51% decrease since the 2008 election” (civicyouth.org). This topic relates to my personal experiences on a national level because in the last election the statistics of young people at the polls dropped significantly at 51%. Young people make up 31% of the electorate and are the future of this country and we do not have enough young people at the polls. I believe that young people feel that their votes do not matter and they feel that way because more young people voted for Bernie Sanders than Clinton or Trump in the 2016 primaries. This issue matters to young people because we are the future of this country and our country desperately needs change. The old way of electing the president isn't the best way to elect a leader and our generation needs to be the one to change how this country works. In the 2016 primaries more young people wanted Bernie Sanders but because of the electoral college it did not matter what the people wanted and Clinton and Trump were the result of the primaries and now our youth feels as though their votes do not matter.

The following people are affected by this issue in the following way; all citizens of America young and old are impacted by the electoral college. An example of all citizens being affected by this atrocity is the Virginia primaries. This year i have seen and heard many more people supporting Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton but consequently because of the electoral college Virginia (one of the largest states in the country) voted for Hillary Clinton, which consequently gives Clinton an advantage come election day. The causes of this issue include old, conservative ways of doing things that older people in charge do not want to fix. The whole reason we did not have a direct democracy was because we were so spread out it would be nearly impossible to connect every person and count every single vote, but now that it is the 21st century we need to come up with a different system; one that counts every vote. The effects of this issue include election of a president that did not have the majority of American votes. A time in history were the popular vote did not win the election was , “the election of 1824 Andrew Jackson had the popular vote amongst Americans, but because of the electoral vote John Quincy Adams ended up winning the election” (D’Angelo Gore), this has happened several times throughout our history and always leads to unhappy citizens. This makes citizens feel as though their votes do not count and their one vote does not make a difference.

The solution is simple; abolishing the electoral college. We have got to get rid of a system that does not take into consideration what the people want. This country was built on the power of the people and it should be upheld the same way it was built. Alternatively “some people believe that their votes do not count and it is the most undemocratic way of electing a chief executive to run our country” (The Post and Courier). I used this website because this is a trustworthy alternative news site. Alternatively some people believe the founding fathers had the right idea. Some believe the founders intentionally founded a nation with a representative democracy to avoid the dangers of direct democracy observed throughout history.

You, Mr. President should do the following about this issue: get rid of our old system, develop a way to count every voting Americans vote and actually elect a chief executive via popular vote. Please Mr. President, the youth of America need your help to refuel the urge to vote.

Sincerely, Rachel R

Works cited page

Tisch, Jonathan M. "Youth Voting." Civicyouth.org. Circle, 10 Nov. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2016

"Don't Shrink Your Voting Duty." The Post and Courier. N.p., 16 Sept. 2016. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.

Gore, D'angelo. "Presidents Winning without Popular Vote." Factcheck.org. Ask Fact Check, 24 Mar. 2008. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.