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We’ve heard a lot of bluster from displeased voters recently about dumping the Electoral College in favor of a popular vote; however, had Donald Trump won the popular vote and lost the college would there still be a movement to modify Article II of the our U.S. Constitution? But why stop there? Why does Wyoming with its 586,000 residents deserve as many senators as California with its 39 million? I mean, what’s with that?

In any case, I can only imagine how a popular-vote system would work in a nation of 330 million with its diverse peoples and cultures. Since the 270 number would be cast to the spittoon, we might find ourselves with several sizable political parties; and worse, parties that are regionally rather than nationally strong. We might have a winner under such a system with only 25 percent of the total vote with the rest scattered here and there.

The fact is neither candidate cared a fig about the popular vote. Their campaigns were about winning states, especially battleground states, a strategy that has been in play since 1787. Had the candidates been after the popular vote instead, their campaigns would have had different strategies and quite possibly different results with the same winner.

STEVE HATCHER

Clark Fork