We have just finished the 2012 presidential election this year. With it, we have seen one of the most expensive campaigns in American history. A lot has changed since the Founding Fathers first established the executive branch. Yet since that time period, we still have a connection that links the recent presidential election to the election of George Washington. The Electoral College.

Through time, we have had a multitude of changes to our national and state governments. Yet, after 200 years, we continue to have the same method of electing the president, through the Electoral College. And since the beginning of our government, the Electoral College has been challenged to change or disappear over 700 times in Congress with all attempts failing. Even now, people continue to argue against it.

How many electoral votes a state gets is determined by its' population. California, with a large population, has 55 votes to compensate for its population. Wyoming however, has 3 electoral votes due to its smaller population. Electoral College votes were made with the idea of incorporating the people in its vote. By this, the idea of choosing a president by popular vote is used because, the more populated a state is, the more electoral votes it receives. It should be noted that Electoral votes and a direct vote are different. If we were to install a system using a nationwide voting system the value of states would change drastically.

The Founding Fathers originally gave the state governments certain powers to check upon the national government. The Electoral College is one of those powers. Giving each state at least 3 votes and requiring a majority (or now 270) vote to win, a candidate must have the support of not only largely populated states, but also the smaller states. Were we to have a direct voting system, one should realize that dense states such as California and Texas, which combined have over 50 million citizens, would have a much larger role on voting day. Smaller, less populated states such as Wyoming with about half a million citizens, would be almost insignificant compared to the larger states. The Electoral College ensures that these smaller states have a say on election day.

This method remains in our government today, as opposed to direct popular election because the framers of the Constitution knew that political contests should not be decided by direct majority rule. They rejected the idea of a true democracy believing blind majority decisions are as dangerous as any tyrant or dictator. In today's time, the media and the internet play a huge role in elections. It is no secret that these advertisements do influence many people. The ease-of-access to a computer or television to anyone nowadays allows more people to learn more about the candidates. Not only do the internet and media influence the masses, but so do peer pressure. Having a mob rule would distort the idea of a democracy that this nation was found upon.

The Electoral College was designed to represent the states, not the people, on these elections. But even though it represents the states, states only have as much power as its population allows them. The Electoral College is the best solution to combine the states and popular election into one method. It is because of this, that this method has stood for over 220 years not because it was ignored, but because it is successful.