Does your vote count?

The time has come to do away with the Electoral College. There was a time when information was not delivered as it is today. Many did not read at all and the only information available was the local newspaper. Facts were not available to be checked. Word of mouth and the opinions of family were what was depended on.

 This has all changed.

 Most of our country can read. The Internet provides voting records and more information than people can absorb. Opinions from all over the world are available in seconds. People of our nation have at their fingertips the resources needed to make informed decisions. We do not live in the dark ages devoid of outside information.

 So the question is where do we stand today. Do we have a choice as to who our president is to be? Does our vote count? 

 I feel we live in a time where many citizens' votes are disregarded.  If you live in a mostly blue state and vote red your vote is cast out. The same is true if it was the other way around. It counts for nothing. Only 2 states don’t have the all or nothing law. At least in those states the electoral votes are proportional to the votes placed by the people in those states. There is no reason for this to take place any longer.

 I have lived in Maryland all my life. If I vote Republican for president, it’s as if I did not vote at all. I don't remember a time in my life that a republican presidential vote has meant anything in Maryland. Where is the right to vote in a state that tosses your presidential vote if 51% of the state votes the other way? Why will my country not count a citizen's vote for a leader? Why does it not count because of where we live? 

 Why in an era when some question letting Illegal immigrants vote, are we still disenfranchised as citizens?  Don’t think about discriminating based on race, color creed, national origin, sexual orientation or other things. But live in the wrong state and your vote does not mean anything. 

 What country you or your family came from does not matter. But where you live in the United States of America makes the difference if your vote counts or is disregarded. They might as well put a vote collecting box without a bottom on top of a trash can.

 It is truly time for a change.