Electoral College is an elegant compromise
I would like to respond to an editorial published Nov. 8 stating that the Electoral College should be abolished because we are a democracy.
First off, civics classes need to be mandatory in high school and college so that we are well informed.
We are not a democracy; we are a representative republic. This is because we are 50 separate and equal states. Rhode Island must equal California. Our country is the United States of America. Unlike Germany and Botswana, we don’t have one name. We are a conglomerate. This is part of our strength.
When the forefathers formed our government, they considered this paramount. Each state has a seat at the table. They accomplished this by having a Senate (equal representation) and a House of Representatives (the representative number decided by population).
This fairness continued in the election of a president. We shouldn’t want presidential elections in which the candidates are able to ignore the Ohios, Wisconsins and Hawaiis. We shouldn’t want a president who didn’t value and listen to all Americans. The Electoral College assures exactly that. The Electoral College is an elegant compromise.
Our problem isn’t the Electoral College. It is our elected delegates. We need statesmen and stateswomen, not politicians.
Patricia Knox
Kailua-Kona
Research before you pontificate
In response to a letter appearing in Friday’s paper stating that Hawaii’s Electoral College votes were credited to Joe Biden 6 minutes after the polls closed, hence Republican votes didn’t count: the writer apparently is unaware that Hawaii election officials begin counting the mail-in ballots when they are received, days before the actual election date; ditto early walk-in votes. Hence, they already had a count of a large percentage of the many ballots returned, and could accurately allocate the Electoral College votes.
Regarding another letter on the same day, that ballots in Pennsylvania could not be rejected because the voter’s signature didn’t match their registration: actually, there is nothing in that state’s law that says signature comparisons could be a basis for rejection of ballots. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court simply upheld that aspect of the law, despite an challenge by the Trump campaign.
People should research their concerns and claims before pontificating. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.
Bekke Hess
Manteca, California
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