Editor, Gazette-Journal:

What do you do when the guy you like does not get elected? I moan a little then try to figure out why I was wrong when, like anyone who votes, I was not wrong, I just picked the second best. Yea I know, many folks are not as charitable, calling the winner names and hoping ill of our country by wishing for failure. Now a small group attempts to change the rules, thinking their chances would be better.

Sound like one of those countries we’ve been fighting in? Nope, it’s Virginia. Rural states such as Montana or rural areas such as Southwestern Virginia tend to vote conservative as opposed to big cities. The Republicans are finding it harder and harder to get Virginia’s 13 electoral votes due to high population areas such as Northern Virginia and Tidewater, so they want to apportion these votes by district winner, not state winner.

Carried to the extreme, bills such as this carry the potential of electing a president who not only loses the popular national vote, but the individual state votes as well. Yes, presidents have lost the popular vote and won the election, and some states do split or apportion electoral votes, but as of now not enough to normally change an Electoral College outcome.

The wiser method to me would be to get rid of the Electoral College and let the people pick. Gimmicks such as proportional voting are not only dangerous, but they silence the public voice.

S.J. Mehaffey

Gloucester, Va.