Those who oppose Proposition 113 argue that if passed, it will make voters in less populated states irrelevant. The problem is they are irrelevant now. Under the current Electoral College system, presidential candidates are really only attentive to those competitive states they believe they can swing in their favor – swing states – and Colorado is not on the list! Neither are more populated red states like South Carolina or less populated blue states like Vermont. To add insult to injury, the winner-take-all system currently used in 48 states guarantees that those votes cast for the state loser will not be counted at all. Hence, although only 100,000-plus votes separated Clinton and Trump in the 2016 election in Colorado, all nine of our electoral votes were cast for Clinton. The Electoral College is undemocratic. It discounts votes for the losing candidate in most states, and it sometimes allows the candidate who has not received the most votes to take office. We can change that by going to a National Popular Vote. The presidential election is the only national election, and as in all other races, the candidate winning the most votes nationwide should win. Vote Yes on Proposition 113.
Karen SheekCortez(The author is the president of the League of Women Voters of Colorado.)
