Will your vote count?

According to many Democratic voters in the historically conservative state of Tennessee, the answer to that question is no.

In recent years, both Democrats in predominantly Republican states and Republicans in predominantly Democratic states have spoken out out on feeling disenfranchised by the current electoral system.

All the Democratic areas of Tennessee should just secede. -Andrew Smith, junior in political scienceIn the winner-takes-all electoral system, the popular vote within a state determines which candidate gets all the electoral votes for that state. The problem many voters see in this system is that the electoral votes do not accurately reflect how the people in the state voted. The votes that went to the less popular candidate seem to count less in the eyes of the electoral system and leave some voters discouraged.

This attitude presents a problem for student volunteers like sophomore Dorothy Montague.

"I've been volunteering since the beginning of the Obama campaign and I have encountered more and more voters that feel that since their vote for Obama won't be reflected in the electoral votes then there isn't a point in voting at all," she said. "I feel like if these people weren't so negative and went out and did vote then maybe we could make a change and have the state go blue."

Some voters feel that the electoral system itself is outdated and the entire technique needs to be reformed. UT student and volunteer for the Obama campaign Chris Ivey feels that the popular vote should decide the outcome of the election.

"I am in favor of this nation simply scrapping the electoral college system in favor of a straight popular vote," he said. "This will make sure that every vote matters in the eyes of the American people."

Ivey also cited the 2000 presidential election - specifically the fact that President Bush took office without receiving a majority of the popular vote - as an example of a failure within the electoral system.

Unfortunately we don't just get to go by the popular vote. -John Buerhaus, sophomore in political science"Why we allow a candidate eight years ago to gain the highest office in this country without receiving the majority of votes is beyond me," he said. "Think of where this country would be if Bush had never won the presidency eight years ago."

Some voters on both sides of the aisle do agree that the electoral system could use a makeover.

"Unfortunately we don't just get to go by the popular vote," John Buerhaus, a sophomore in political science who is voting for John McCain said. "But although I'm not the biggest fan of the electoral system, it does distribute the candidate's time equally among all the states. Without it, the smaller states would be ignored."

Buerhaus also pointed out that Republicans in blue states also face the same problems that Democrats in Tennessee do.

"It's just the way it is. If you look at California county-by-county everything is red, but the heavily populated cities and the state still goes blue. Sadly, that's just how it works," he said.

Junior in political science and McCain supporter Andrew Smith said, "Since Democrats whine so much about electoral votes, why don't they broaden their political platform so Tennessee voters will start voting for them? Better yet, all the Democratic areas of Tennessee should just secede."