It should have protected us, but it didn’t. The Electoral College was designed to protect us from demagogues. It was a buffer of the wisest, the most responsible among us to shield us from the masses gone mad. It didn’t do that; instead it installed a fool. It enshrined the power of money to corrupt our political process. Eighty-eight thousand votes, carefully orchestrated and manipulated, thwarted the will of 65 million.
We now have a chance to rectify a 225-year-old mistake. National Popular Vote is an initiative to have Utah’s six electoral votes awarded to the winner of the national popular vote. Currently, states equaling 192 electoral votes have passed this legislation. When 98 additional electoral votes subscribe to the Interstate Compact, we will no longer have swing states, or battleground states; we will have a president chosen by the country and not a few critical states.
Utah should add its six electoral votes to the Interstate Compact. We won’t make a big difference, but we will make a difference. We are 71 percent of the way there; let’s make it 73 percent.
Dennis Read Hanks, Salt Lake City