America is a Federal Republic.
The President is chosen by the STATES.
In fact, vote to choose your state's electors.. it is because your state has chosen to let you.
Same for the "winner-take-all"... Except for Nebraska, Maine, and (maybe soon) Colorado... The other 47/48 states use winner-take-all because they CHOOSE to.
That's because the Electoral College is the way the STATES choose the President. That's why the Presidential election is run in each state according to that state's rules for getting on the ballot, registering to vote, etc.
A nice outcome from it ??
It means that no matter how bad the weather is in one state... or how much corrupt ballot stuffing occurs in another... That state's effect on the outcome is already "set".
i.e. no EC and Bush's people in Texas or Kerry's people in Chicago or Boston could make an extra 10 million votes "appear".
With the EC, there's nothing to be gained from that. Instead, the candidates have to go to other areas and get support.
A lot of the problems with the EC are because of the "winner take all" approach that most states choose. If that changed... It wouldn't seem so out-of-date.
