Babikian is a third-year microbiology student.
By Sarkis Babikian
From the start, I would like to say that I am neither a
supporter of Al Gore or George W. Bush, and I am quite pleased that
the election was this close. The suspense gave me an interest in
politics that I did not have before. But when newsbreaks on CNN
stating that Democrats may take legal action in Florida came out,
my heart sank.
Something is seriously wrong when a winner is declared by means
of a lawsuit. What respect would I have for the president if he
were to get into office through his lawyers? The thought that the
rich can have their way with a strong legal team, even when it
comes to the presidency, is frightening.
In this case, Gore has won the popular vote of the United
States, but may lose the presidency if Florida goes to Bush. This
is possible because the Constitution mandates the president be
chosen through the electoral college.
I have great respect for the Constitution, mainly because it is
flexible and can be changed according to the time through the use
of amendments. With this in mind, perhaps it is time to change the
voting system.
Remember that when the Constitution was first formed, only white
males could vote. Through social progress, this has changed to give
everyone the right to vote once they reach the legal age. Thus, is
the electoral college still useful today?
In the early days of our nation, it was a tedious task to gather
and tally all the individual votes to declare a winner by popular
vote. Instead each state would elect representatives to vote as the
majority of the state saw fit. This reduced the number of votes for
the presidency making it easier to tally and more difficult to make
a mistake.
This system has worked well for many years. But in our age of
technology, is it really necessary? We have the power to tally all
the votes electronically in an instant. We have the ability to move
beyond pencil and paper and take advantage of computers.
Election 2000 should be a wake up call to all Americans showing
us that something is amiss. It is illogical that someone who wins
the popular vote has a chance at not winning the presidency. Though
it has happened before, what we are facing is not new in political
history, but is new in light of our technological advancement.
It is sad to see the Democrats and Republicans fight it out over
Florida. It makes me feel like my vote in California does not count
as much as a Florida vote.
Under a popular vote system, all votes would have equal weight.
When we find out who the winner is, we should not dwell on issues
such as whether or not Ralph Nader made this process more
difficult, but on how the electoral college system itself made this
process difficult.
The electoral college is outdated and needs to be replaced using
modern technology.