Regretful voter

If ever there were justification and a time to abolish the Electoral College, we certainly have both now. I wrote to the entire Maine congressional delegation after the previous presidential election and said I wouldn’t vote in a presidential election again unless it was done away with. I went against that vow, and now regret that I did.

The Electoral College was devised at the time of the framing of our Constitution by intellectual elitists who feared that the ignorant American populace would be incapable of practically electing their leaders. This fear was no doubt exacerbated by the snail’s pace of communication at the time, the monumentally laborious process of disseminating information and the tabulation and recording of votes, and other general conditions of 18th-century American society. That was more than 200 years ago. Time and technology have marched on.

Maine is reported to be one of only two states that can split their electoral votes, granting part to one candidate, and part to another. If Vice President Gore received 49 percent of Maine’s popular vote, and Gov. Bush received 48, why did all four of Maine’s electoral votes become committed to Gore? The net effect of that incomprehensible phenomenon was that the votes of the 48 percent were “thrown out the window,” and ended up counting not at all. Michael P. Gleason Bangor