Why do we still have an electoral college? As we saw in 2000, the electoral college ignores the will of the people. Yet every time politicians say they'll get rid of it, it rarely happens.
As of today, only Maryland has agreed to deliver the state's 10 electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote by law. On Sunday, New Jersey became the second state to enter a compact that would eliminate the Electoral College's power to choose a president if enough states endorse the idea.
If even a handful of states did this, it would, in effect, avoid letting a larger state decide the outcome of the election. For instance, in 2000, George Bush won the election with 271 electoral delegates to Al Gore's 266, despite Gore winning the popular vote by 542,000 votes. In this example, both Maryland and New Jersey were won by Gore and therefore would have had no impact on the election. However, if New Hampshire (where the popular vote was 273,559 for Bush and 266,348 for Gore), for example, had awarded its 4 delegates based on national popular vote, Gore would have won the election.
It's hard to imagine calling us the "United" States when clearly electing national leaders is anything but uniting.
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