I find it absurd that in elections as contentious and times as important as these, people can suggest you should not vote. I wholeheartedly agree that our system is broken. Many people feel ignored, shunned and kept out in the cold of our democracy, but to say the way to fix that is by exiting it entirely is asinine.

“The Electoral College was created to balance voting power in the states.”

My peer started off on poor footing by grossly misunderstanding the purpose and current functioning of the Electoral College. While it is true that, in a similar structure to Congress, it brings some equality to the states, to read this as its main function is incorrect. The main purpose of the Electoral College was to strike a balance between the will of the people and the desires of the elites, the very people who wrote the Constitution. The writers knew the people must decide who gets to be president, but feared direct choice would lead to volatile changes in leadership. 

“This system, essentially, sets up a barrier between people’s power over the presidential election and the power of political parties to determine who becomes the leader of America.”

Similarly, my peer fails to fully understand how the Electoral College works. He claims that political parties ambiguously choose electors and that these electors get to decide for themselves who the president will be. Electors are indeed chosen through a very informal process and many are simple party members being honored with a ceremonial role, but to allege that this creates some sort of barrier between voters and the election, instead handing the power to choose to the parties, is simply false. Laws in 38 states require electors to vote for who the people voted for, and in the other 12 states, we have yet to see a massive scheme occur to change the outcome of an election. There is no barrier by the parties, there is no conspiracy. 

I want to note that I am not defending the Electoral College. I agree that it is a barrier for voters, however it is not between them and parties, but between our vote and having a direct say in who becomes president. The system is outdated; it is wrong and it should be abolished. If we are to bring change to our system of government we must actually understand that system we wish to change.

I further disagree with my peer that our votes literally don’t matter. They do, just not enough. My peer goes on to say that because some candidates have won the popular vote but not the Electoral College, it has become too easy for political agendas to manipulate the system. I must reiterate that this is wrong. There is no scheme, there is no cabal. There is simply a bad and unrepresentative system in place. 

“I think it would be awesome if no one voted in the presidential election.”

This is one of the worst claims my peer made in his article. In a country where, for too long, far too many people were denied their voice, in a country where many people were beaten, bruised and even killed for trying to exercise their right to vote, to say that we should make their sacrifices be for naught is repugnant. Even today too many people still cannot vote, both in the U.S. and in countries under repressive regimes, and to treat a voice they lack but yearn for as a joke cannot be justified. 

You say the system is broken? I agree but you cannot put a fire out by putting your hands up and saying “I give up!” Change requires choice. That choice may not always be easy and the change certainly may come slowly, but simply refusing to make a choice is not a solution at all.

Finally, my peer ends with an important clarifying point: that one should still vote, but only in local and statewide elections. This is because these elections are where the most impact can be generated in our lives. I couldn’t agree more. It was obviously the Missouri Senate and House of Representatives that took charge and ended segregation, it was also them that initially enshrined abortion rights and it must have been them that legalized same-sex marriage in the U.S. Except it wasn’t. In our federal system changes, sometimes the most important changes, can come from the National Government. Both levels of government matter. 

My point is not to say local and state elections do not matter, they do. Missouri just legalized abortion and raised the minimum wage, and our local representatives can have a large impact on our lives, but the federal elections are also vitally important. 

I am not saying the system is perfect, nor that it is even good; in fact I’m saying the opposite. The solution lies not in becoming less involved but more, not in throwing your hands up in defeat but in putting one hand up and saying, “Yes, I believe it can get better,” not in casting aside the whole system but in casting your vote for all levels of government. That is how we create real and lasting change.