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A resident leaves the voting booth after casting their ballot during the December elections, Saturday, December 10, 2022, on Valley Creek Drive in Baton Rouge, La.

Contrary to a recent letter to the editor, the Electoral College is a vestige from the era of slavery. The slave states said that they would not ratify the Constitution of the United States if the selection of the president was made through a vote of the people. This was because a large portion of their population were enslaved people who could not vote. Enslaved people were viewed as 3/5ths of a person for purposes of representation.

The other reason for the Electoral College was that the elitists who wrote the Constitution did not think that the American people were educated or wise enough to pick a good president. One of the writers reportedly said that he would no more allow the American people to choose the president than he would allow a blind man to pick the color of his house.

Here is the truth: The American people are wiser than the Electoral College. Al Gore beat George W. Bush by half a million votes. Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by 3 million votes. Joe Biden beat him by 7 million votes. Trust the people and let every vote count.

DOUGLAS BREWSTER

Covington

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