Richard G. Schaefer

Sartell

In their wisdom, the United States Founders created the Electoral College to ensure the States were fairly represented. Why should one or two densely populated areas speak for the whole nation?

There are 3,141 counties in the United States. [In the 2016 election], Trump won 3,084 of them. Clinton won 57. There are 62 counties in New York State. Trump won 46 of them, Clinton won 16. Clinton won the popular vote by approximately 1.5 million votes. In the five counties that encompass New York City (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Richmond and Queens), Clinton received well over two million more votes than Trump. (Clinton only won four of these counties; Trump won Richmond). Therefore, these five counties alone more than accounted for Clinton winning the popular vote of the entire country. These five counties comprise 319 square miles. The United States is comprised of 3.797 million square miles. When you have a country that encompasses almost four million square miles of territory, it would be ludicrous to even suggest the vote of those who inhabit a mere 319 square miles should dictate the outcome of a national election.

Large, densely Democratic cities (New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and more) do not and should not speak for the rest of our country!

Author: Janelle Von Pinnon

Von Pinnon has been publishing the St. Joseph Newsleader since 1989, the Sartell-St. Stephen Newsleader since 1995 and the Sauk Rapids-Rice Newsleader since 2015. She graduated from Minnesota State University-Moorhead with degrees in mass communications (with an emphasis on print journalism) and biology. She lives in southeast St. Cloud with her husband and two children.