Eliminate Electoral College, eliminate influence

Any Nevada legislator who truly cares about fair representation for the residents of this state would not, in good conscience, vote for AB413.

However, AB413 is currently sitting in the Senate Operations & Elections Committee, supported by the vote of 27 Assemblymen. Shame on them!

If this measure is approved by the Nevada Legislature, it will place Nevada's five electoral votes as in favor of doing away with the Electoral College and electing U.S. presidents via a national majority vote. As stated within AB413, when the electoral votes in states approving this measure constitute the majority of all electoral votes, it will take effect.

Don't think this cannot happen. According to the National Popular Vote Web site, five states have approved this measure (Washington, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland); fives states have passed it in both houses (Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, California, Colorado) and eight states have passed it in one house " including Nevada.

If the Electoral College system of electing our president is replaced by a popular vote, Nevada and all other sparsely populated states will lose their proportionately representative voice to that of the country's major population centers.

Nevada is a growing state. With each new census it tends to pick up an additional electoral vote, giving it greater say in presidential elections via the Electoral College system. With a popular-vote-based election, Nevada will lose its growing influence.

A vote in support of AB413 is debunking the very philosophy Nevada's representative interests are based on. Congressional and Nevada Assembly and Senate districts are created according to a population formula. Partisan gerrymandering of districts every 10 years aside, this is intended to give the less populated areas a fair, proportionate voice in our state's government.

Just imagine a Legislature elected statewide by popular vote. How many members do you think would be elected from the rural areas, or from outside of Las Vegas?

The founders of this country were wise in setting up the Electoral College as a fair system of representation. This proposal would eliminate the voice of the small in presidential elections " and that would be very sad.

- Nancy Dallas of Virginia City Highlands is editor and publisher of NewsDeskbyNancyDallas.com.