Odds are your vote for president of the United States of America does not count. At all. We scoff at the Constitution historically counting some people as three-fifths of a person. Yet odds are very high that as a free American in the 21st century your vote counts less than three-fifths of a vote.
Thanks to the Electoral College, if you live in a red state or a blue state, your individual vote has zero effect on who becomes president. If you vote red in a blue state your vote will not make any difference at all — your candidate will always lose and your vote does not get tallied in the national results. If you vote red in a red state your vote still won’t make a difference — your candidate will get the same delegate count whether you vote or not. If you vote blue in a red state your vote never counts. If you vote blue in a blue state your vote has zero influence on the outcome.
In a state not using the winner-take-all approach, your vote might be worth anywhere from nothing to three-fifths of a vote. If you are in a swing state, your vote’s value could approach, but not quite reach, a full vote for each voter. The only clear way to get one voter one vote is to eliminate the Electoral College. Your congressional leaders likely don’t want to give your power back to you, so you may have to start using your vote to get rid of incumbents until your representatives are willing to give your full vote back to you by eliminating the Electoral College.
Alan K. Jones, Emigration Canyon
