Here is a concise summary of the provided text:
**Title:** The Flaws of the US Electoral College System
**Main Argument:** The US Electoral College system is undemocratic, as it makes some people's votes more equal than others, and should be abolished in favor of direct popular voting.
**Key Points:**
1. **Unequal Representation:** The Electoral College system allocates votes based on states, not population, leading to unequal representation (e.g., some states have more votes than their population warrants, while others have fewer).
2. **Failing to Protect Small States:** Contrary to its intended purpose, the system doesn't ensure candidates pay attention to small states; instead, candidates focus on swing states with close races.
3. **Ignoring Most Americans:** The system leads to candidates neglecting most of the population, with only a few states receiving significant attention.
4. **Mathematical Improbability of City-Bias in Direct Voting:** The concern that direct voting would lead to candidates focusing only on large cities is mathematically unfounded, as the top cities combined hold a relatively small percentage of the total US population.
5. **Potential for Undemocratic Outcomes:** The Electoral College system allows for scenarios where a candidate can win with a significant minority of the popular vote (illustrated with a hypothetical scenario where a candidate wins with 22% of the popular vote).
6. **Historical Failures:** The system has led to the winner of the popular vote not becoming president three times in US history, highlighting a 5% failure rate.
**Conclusion:** Abolishing the Electoral College in favor of direct popular voting would ensure every citizen's vote is equal, resolving the system's inherent flaws and strengthening democracy.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text, excluding opinions:
1. **Total Electoral College Votes**: The US Electoral College has 538 votes to determine the presidency.
2. **Population Representation**: If votes were split evenly, every 574,000 people would be represented by one vote.
3. **Electoral College Vote Allocation**: The Electoral College gives votes to states, not people.
4. **Minimum State Votes**: Every state starts with 3 electoral votes, regardless of population, before the rest are distributed.
5.. **Population of States vs. Electoral Votes**:
* Ohio has 11.5 million people and 18 electoral votes.
* Rhode Island has 1.1 million people and 4 electoral votes.
6. **Vote Discrepancies Due to Allocation**:
* Georgians, Virginians, Michiganders, and Jerseyites are each missing 1 vote.
* Pennsylvanians, North Carolinians, Ohioans, and Hoosiers are missing 2 votes.
* Floridians are missing 4 votes; New Yorkers, 5; Texans, 6; and Californians, 10.
7. **Presidential Candidate Visits**:
* In the last two months of a previous election, only 18 of 50 states received a candidate visit.
* Just two of those states (Maine and New Hampshire) have very small populations.
8. **States Receiving Majority of Candidate Attention**:
* Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Virginia received most candidate visits.
9. **Winner-Take-All System**:
* A candidate needs just over 50% of the popular vote in a state to win 100% of that state's electoral votes.
10. **US Population Distribution**:
* Total US population: approximately 309 million.
* New York City's population: about 8 million (2.6% of the total US population).
11. **Largest Cities' Population**:
* LA: 3.8 million; Chicago: 2.7 million.
* Top 10 cities combined: only 7.9% of the popular vote.
12. **Historical Election Outcomes**:
* Three times in US history, the candidate with the most votes lost due to the Electoral College.