David Darlow’s letter complaining about the Electoral College has a whiff of sour grapes about it. He forgets that in almost all of the country (Washington included), states assign their Electoral College votes on a winner-take-all basis. Obama received 56 percent of the popular vote in 2012; thus, he earned all 12 of the state’s Electoral College votes.

While Romney did win the most votes in 23 of Washington’s 39 counties, Obama won the most votes in several of the most populated counties, including King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. Again, it’s not the number (or square mileage) of the counties that count, but the total number of votes.

Perhaps David would favor a method similar to Maine’s or Nebraska’s, where each congressional district has a distinct Electoral College vote, and the remaining two Electoral College votes go to the winner of the statewide popular vote. Mind you, under that system, Obama would have still won nine Electoral College votes to Romney’s three, so he probably would still be unhappy with the results.

Roy Dickens

Spokane