Congress has considered eliminating the Electoral College many times before. In fact, lawmakers have dealt with some 700 such proposals, rejecting them all.

They should try again.

Doing away with the Electoral College would require approval of two-thirds of Congress and ratification by 38 states. That would take several years to do, and now is a good time to get the ball rolling.

Supporters of the Electoral College praise the founding fathers for their wisdom in creating such a complex mechanism for electing a president. We can't understand why the founding fathers are praised for not trusting the American people enough to directly elect the nation's chief executive.

We are in a situation now where the candidate who received the most votes will lose the election because his opponent garnered the most electoral votes. The will of the people is being thwarted.

This should not be a partisan issue. We're certain that both Democrats and Republicans can agree that the popular election of a president is much fairer than the system we have now.

T.J. Rooney, a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania legislature, said last week that our country needs to scrap the Electoral College.

"The inescapable reality is that it doesn't reflect the premise upon which our country was founded -- one person, one vote," he said.

More than two centuries later, we've shown that democracy works. The Republic not only survives, it flourishes. We no longer need the Electoral College.

Today's editorial reflects the opinion of both the Exponent and Telegram editorial boards.