I registered to vote three days after my eighteenth birthday. I was very excited and I was at the polls by 7:15 A.M. and eager to participate when the next election rolled around. For several months I had very carefully researched all the different candidates and their political views. I felt very certain that each candidate I had chosen had a clear and concise plan for the country’s future. Other voters, however, did not share my views. Most of the candidates I chose were easily defeated in the General Election.

That was the first and last time I voted until the election of 1992. My decision to vote in 1992 was based, in part, on the country’s failing economy and the need for a leader that understood the needs of the American people. I was very pleased with the election results. The country’s economy has been extremely good for the last eight years and much has been done to pay down the national debt.

The election of 2000, however, raised new and serious questions about this country's election process. The fact that one state can have so much influence on a national election is difficult to believe. The harsh fact that one state can control the country’s future is a pill that’s hard to swallow indeed. The fact that the American people are willing to just sit back in contentment and allow one state to control their future is beyond belief.

The Electoral College was designed by the power elite in an attempt to control the election process of our country. We need to give serious consideration to abolishing the Electoral College and allowing the American people to choose their leaders. The voting system also needs considerable work. The antiquated equipment used now in 2001 to count votes should be replaced with new equipment that accurately reflects the will of the American people. Maybe then my faith in the election process will be once again restored. Maybe then the American people will actually be able to control the country’s future rather than just sit back and watch as nothing more than helpless observers. Then, and only then, we can say that we have a “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”