As of Oct. 1, 4,158,895 Coloradans are registered voters and 3,647,180 are active voters. Over 49,300 young people have pre-registered, eagerly awaiting their first shot at the ballot. Will these voters’ ballots count?

In the original constitution signed Sept. 17, 1787, the number of members of the House of Representatives was apportioned “among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.” But not all “Persons” could vote.

The first census totaled 3,893,635 in the United States, just above Colorado’s active voter registrations. Of those, 807,094 were free white males 16 or older, 1,541, 263 free white females, 59,150 other free persons, and 694,280 enslaved persons. The states had the right to set up their elections. In most instances, free white male property owners were the voters. The 1790 Naturalization Law stated that only “free white immigrants” could become naturalized citizens which further refined who could vote for members of the U.S. Congress.

New Hampshire took away the property requirement for voting in 1792. New Jersey, which originally allowed free white women to vote, revoked that right in 1807. In 1868, with the 14th Amendment, citizenship was granted to former slaves, but only former male slaves could vote.

With the House of Representatives the only federal governing body elected by voters, however circumscribed, the U.S. Senate and the president and vice president were selected through the vetting process of state legislatures. Not until the 1914 general election were senators chosen by direct popular vote.

So up to 1914, a little more than 100 years ago, selecting elected officials was an elite process. Since 1914, our elections have become more democratic, especially with women’s suffrage and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

There are only two elected positions left where the people don’t have the right to directly select an official, and that’s the president and vice president of the United States. The 4,158,895 registered voters in Colorado will vote for whom they choose for president, but only nine electors, seven for the number of US House members and two for the number of U.S. senators, will elect the president. Does this archaic 18th century leftover make any sense at all in the year of 2020?

Colorado is disadvantaged with this anachronism as a state with growing population. It’s likely that Colorado will receive one more U.S. House seat upon completion of the 2020 census. That means that states that have lost population, including California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, and Illinois among others, will lose at least one Representative. Two of these states, Michigan and Pennsylvania, are considered swing states for the 2020 presidential race.

The Electoral College is embedded in the original constitution. It can lead to many complicated scenarios, especially with close elections, none of which honor each vote and voter’s preference. The best way, the most clearcut and constitutional manner of rectifying the anachronism, would be a constitutional amendment stating that each registered voter’s ballot counts as one vote toward a majority that would select the president and vice president of the United States.

But state populations and self-interest make such an amendment unlikely in the near future. Smaller states cling to the Electoral College as a way for their “voices to be heard.” That’s because a state with population supporting only one U.S. representative and two senators supposedly has more vote per elector than a state like California or Texas. Small states believe they’ll lose their impact with a “one person, one vote” election.

But in the current system, it’s not small states that dominate. It’s “close states,” states where the parties are evenly divided and where contentiousness is greatest. These five or six states get the attention and everyone else in the nation is on the sidelines. That now includes Coloradans.

The country’s history is toward expanded vote and direct elections. Colorado’s Proposition 113 supports that hard-fought tradition. A YES vote on 113 gets us to a direct vote result. It’s time to get with the times. Make your vote, all of it, count. Vote YES on 113.