Electoral College has failed in its purpose
Robert Meale's letter regarding the Electoral College misrepresented a key fact and overlooked another. First, Abraham Lincoln did receive over 1.86 million votes, not the majority; however second-place Douglas received 1.38 million, third place Breckinridge 847 thousand votes and fourth place Bell 590 thousand. So unlike some recent presidential elections, he didn't, as Meale implied, lose the popular vote to another candidate.
More importantly the primary purpose of the Electoral College was not to somehow equate the power of smaller states - Rhode Island will never have the ability to challenge Texas - but rather was to avoid the possibility that popular vote totals might elect someone totally unfit to be president. The states' electoral voters were intended by the Founding Fathers to be capable of casting their vote independent of their state's popular vote total.
Clearly it has failed in that purpose.
David Farnsworth
Schaumburg