I find any talk about abolishing the electoral college absurd. The opinion prevails that somehow if every individual's vote counts equally across the nation, the results will be the most fair picture of the public mind. In our high-tech world such a system, it is argued, is not only possible it is timely: "Get rid of the electoral college, it is out of date." But in the light of this laughable debacle over recounts in Florida — and threats of recounts raised in other states to offset what each party views as unfair tactics in Florida — nothing could be further from the truth.
And what do we have? Lawsuits and threats of the same; taking unfair advantage of laws that have already been stretched to breaking point , and foolish vote-counters (the human variety) pictured in your own paper as they scrutinize ballot cards, to see if the "high-tech" machines really did a proper job of recording all those millions of votes in the first place.
We do have the high-tech capability to count every individual vote (without human intervention). What we lack is the wisdom to use it well. And, I fear, we lack a much more essential ingredient: integrity. All of us are watching and listening as lawyers lacking integrity manipulate those who have it, and the main mass of the public who also have it, into a position where we lose our patience with the system that has run our election process for over two centuries.
Every election will try out more innovations to resolve our vote-counting nightmare. You see, with the constitutional foundation destroyed, every idea to replace it becomes valid. Meanwhile, as our attention is distracted, our government will be seized quietly by those who have maneuvered themselves into position to fill the vacuum they have created by this mess.
M. Douglas Larsen
West Jordan