Every undemocratic element in the original Constitution of the United States has been repealed or amended except the Electoral College.  Erected as a bulwark against popular choice -- to keep the relatively few men allowed to vote from selecting an inappropriate candidate -- the founding fathers created a system which gave "electors" the power to choose a president.  Selected by state legislatures, who picked their own officials, these "electors" determined the entire state's vote for president.  This system gives a state to a single candidate instead of allotting the popular vote on a numerical basis.  The result has been presidents who have lost the popular vote, but won because of the Electoral College.  In recent years, this has resulted in two Republican presidents: George W. Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump in 2016.

     We tend to forget about this until a presidential election year rolls around, which is why it has lasted while slavery has been abolished, women have received the franchise, and other anti-democratic devices have gone by the boards.  It is long past time to abolish it.

     Ernestine Rose would certainly have been in favor of this.  In the middle of the nineteenth century, she believed that everybody, "black and while, man and women," should have the vote.  "The ballot is the focus of all other rights, she often declared, "it is the pivot upon which all hang."

     To this end, I posted a petition to abolish the electoral college on my Facebook home page.  I hope you will sign it, share it, and pass it on.  The time is now!