[Newspoetry] Response from Dick Durbin

[Bill Wendling]

Hi all,

I wrote to our senators about the Electoral College and how unfair it is,
especially in light of this last election. The response I got from Dick
Durbin (the only one so far) was interesting. I'm surprised and pleased
that he opposes the Electoral College and that he'd tried things in the
past. I perfectly understand that the EC is only one of a number of
things which need to change in the way we our governed. I just had to
vent and start somewhere. Here it is below (typos and bad grammar is
mine):

Mr. William Wendling, Jr.
105 W. Washington
Urbana, IL 61801

Dear Mr. Wendling:

	Thank you for contacting me about the Electoral College. I
appreciate hearing from you.

	I believe the Electoral College system does not accurately
reflect the will of the people. That is why I introduced legislation
prior to the 2000 presidential election to abolish the Electoral College
and replace it with the direct election of the President and Vice
President. I cosponsered similar legislation in 1993. In order to ensure
candidates receive a significant plurality of the popular vote, I include
a provision for a runoff election if no candidate receives at least 40
percent of the popular vote.

	Currently, a candidate can win the presidency even if he or she
loses the popular vote. Prior to this year, this troubling outcome
occurred three times in U.S. history--1824, 1876, and 1888. The problems
in determining a winner in the presidential election of 2000 would not
have occurred under a direct popular vote.

	Majority rule is on e of the basic tenets of democracy. As the
world's first and greatest modern democracy, our system of choosing the
leader of the free world should be based on the direct popular vote of
the people--not the antiquated Electoral College system.

	Our current system disenfranchises millions of voters who happen
to vote for a losing presidential candidate in their state. The
winner-take-all rule for electoral votes in most states discounts those
votes by giving al the state's votes to the winner of the state, whether
he or whe wins by one vote or one million votes.

	The Electoral College system has other flaws. It leads candidates
to ignore smaller staates and focus on larger and closely-contested
states; it risks unexpected results because electors can vote differently
than have pledged; and in a close election, it gives undue influence to a
handful of states that can tilt the national outcome with a state margin
of a few hundred or few thousand votes.

	I will continue to work to abolish the Electoral College so that
in future elections the vote of the entire people is the final arbiter of
the presidential election.

	Again, thank you for contacting me about this important issue.
Please feel free to keep in touch.

		Sincerely,
	
		<<signature>>

		Richard J. Durbin
		United States Senator

RJD/mp

-- 
|| Bill Wendling			wendling at ganymede.isdn.uiuc.edu