757,580 Iowan’s Votes Did Not Count [Opinion]
As the nation waits on "pins and needles" for the final outcome of the 2020 Presidential election, it feel like the electoral college is letting us down, again.
As of this writing, 99% of the votes have been counted, with 896,286 votes cast for President Trump and the Democratic challenger Joe Biden has 757,580 votes cast for him. The two candidates were vying for a total of 6 electoral votes. In, Iowa it's "winner take all" so all of the six electoral votes go towards the winner. This doesn't seem fair...AT ALL.
I voted for Biden, and I'm not sure how the other 757,579 voters feel, but I feel like my vote for President didn't count. Like my opinion DOESN'T MATTER. And that's just wrong. I understand my vote DID COUNT in the Senate and U.S. House races, that's fair, it's decided by popular vote. The Presidency is NOT. Which brings me to this point. There's much to complain about the way the electoral college was set up by our forefathers. Yes, it does give a "voice" to the less populous states like us here in Iowa, however, in my opinion, it "backfires" because there is too much "weight" on a handful of more populous states (ie: Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, etc...). Another gigantic problem with the electoral college is, candidates can win the popular vote and somehow lose in the electoral college, as evidenced by Hillary Clinton and Al Gore. In fact, this system is so messed up, that Biden has collected the most popular votes in U.S. history, and is still in danger of losing.
How do we remedy this problem here in Iowa? I say we need to join our neighbors to the west in Nebraska and the folks in Maine and split our 6 electoral votes. As explained by CBS News.com, "Maine awards two of its four electoral votes to the statewide winner, but also allocates an electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each of its two congressional districts. Nebraska gives two of its five electoral votes to the statewide winner, with the remaining three going to the popular vote winner in each of its three congressional districts."
So how did Iowa vote? Biden won in Black Hawk, Linn, Johnson, Polk and Story counties and Trump carried all the rural counties. I say, Iowa needs to move to this system of splitting electoral votes, it may not have changed the outcome in our state, but at least the people in Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Des Moines, and Ames would feel like their voice was heard. I believe this change needs to happen by the 2024 election. In the meantime, everyone needs to respect the outcome of this highly-contested election, so we can move forward as a country.