No need for Electoral College

In an effort to stimulate conversation and add to my limited knowledge about the Electoral College, I have a few ideas.

It is my understanding the Electoral College consists of 538 electors and a majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. There are 10 electors allocated for Missouri: each member in the House of Representatives plus two Senators.

From what I’ve gathered the “College” was established early in U.S. history in part due to the fact that even educated citizens and voters were not directly involved in governmental activities. Many had only limited knowledge of current events, much less how government was run. Furthermore, this method of “electing the President” was considered appropriate due largely to poor and nonexistent communication at the time the Electoral College was set up.

Fast forward to 2016: we now have 24/7 news broadcasts, cellphones, computers and internet, etc, providing real-time information to U.S. citizens and even most people on earth. The previous hindrances to allow the popular vote to take place no longer exist.

In my opinion the Electoral College is obsolete, costly, and highly unnecessary in today’s environment — and should be abolished. ALL legally cast votes should be counted to allow the candidate with the most votes to prevail in all NATIONAL elections as they are in local and state races. A Gallup poll in Jan. 2013 found that a vast majority of Americans would prefer to do away with the electoral college for presidential elections, and I agree.

Charles E. Coffelt, Perryville, Missouri