A map you can see at http://click.heritage.org/NH00EM6s000yitT0TrZ0l3e shows the importance of each state if the U.S. Constitution were changed to make our election of president by popular vote rather than by the Electoral College. It vividly shows how the high population states would dominate. The reason that some have contacted my office expressing interest in changing to a popular vote system is that they are disappointed with the results on Nov. 8. One can see that there would be a few major gainers and many more losing states. Virginia would be one of those losers.

Sometimes, when proposals to change our Constitution are made, they are not thought through well but are acted on based on what appears to be fair. An example of this was the amendment to popularly elect our U.S. Senators.

I hope this gives pause to the direct vote proponents.

Frank Ruff represents Lunenburg in the Senate. His email address is Sen.Ruff@verizon.net.