Opponents of the Electoral College are disturbed by the possibility of electing a minority president (one without the absolute majority of popular votes). Nor is this concern entirely unfounded since there are three ways in which that could happen. One way in which a minority president could be elected is if the country were so deeply divided politically that three or more presidential candidates split the electoral votes among them such that no one obtained the necessary majority... there are two possible resolutions: either one candidate could throw his electoral votes to the support of another or else, absent an absolute majority in the Electoral College, the U. S. House of Representatives would select the president in accordance with the 12th AmendmentThe more basic problem with this species of Electoral College defense is that it boils down to "federalism exists, therefore it ought to." Why states shouldn’t exist as mere administrative departments of a central government goes largely unexamined.

It is not as though our state lines were drawn for the purpose of giving centuries-old, indigenous ethnic groups the opportunity to exercise a modicum of self-determination. Rather, most state lines don’t even have a geological basis, and merely reflect the political interests of those in power when they were drawn.