Letters & Opinion
What’s the point?: The history we’ve witnessed
The Pointer
kleb524@uwsp.edu
The election results are in, and it is not even December yet. I know you are all as excited about this as I am. No more negative campaign advertisements, no more automated phone calls and, best of all, friends can be friends again without worry of offending each other because they supported opposing candidates.
During Tuesday’s historic Election Day, I caught myself in a few “what’s the point” moments. Though I have studied our Electoral College and its purpose, I still could not help thinking “why does it exist?” I know the founding fathers established the Electoral College as a compromise between electing the president by popular vote and election by Congress. The founding fathers essentially were trying to let everyone get a piece of the pie.
But, when you see that millions of people are voting and ultimately the next president could be elected not by popular vote, but rather a small group of electors, you have to ask “what’s the point?” The Electoral College was established by the founding fathers as a compromise between election of the president by Congress and election by popular vote.
However, in this election you really saw what an impact the individual vote can have. In fact (at least at the time of this publication), there are still four Senate races up in the air. The one sparking the greatest interest is right next door in Minnesota. Incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman has claimed victory over challenger Democrat Al Franken, with a margin of less than 500 votes, but it is not over. We may have escaped a recount election for president this time around, but we did not escape it from the Senate races. At least in Minnesota there should be no worries of the hanging chad. Like in Wisconsin, individuals need to fill in the bubble.
I will put in one last congratulation to all of you for voting. If you did not vote, I am sorry. Having voted or not, we have all witnessed possibly the most historic election ever. We do not know what will come of the Obama presidency, but we do know that there will be change.
