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To the Editor:

As the United States painstakingly counted its election ballots state by bloody state and agonized over the razor-thin margins between two presidential candidates, the rest of the world was bewildered and asking: Couldnt all this nonsense be avoided if there were no Electoral College and all we had to do was tally the national popular vote?

Ron A. VirmaniCharlotte, N.C.

To the Editor:

Many people have been asking how President Trump received so many votes, even after all of his gross incompetence during the past four years. People have also been lamenting that they dont know what America we are living in.

For answers, I suggest reading Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, by Isabel Wilkerson. I have been doing so during the past two weeks and believe her thesis that Americas social structure is fundamentally a caste system to be quite compelling.

Elizabeth ZuchWhite Plains, N.Y.

To the Editor:

Re Exit Polls Point to the Power of White Patriarchy (column, nytimes.com, Nov. 4):

Charles M. Blow wonders why so many gay people, Black men and white women voted for President Trump, concluding that aspiration to power by proximity must be the reason.

An alternative explanation might be that many Americans, regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender, voted for Mr. Trump because they believed that he was better for the economy code for I fear losing my livelihood, my life savings and my ability to pay for health care more than I fear the virus.

Democrats need to do a better job of hearing those fears and crafting messages that speak to them. If Democrats had been able to persuade Americans that to rebuild our economy, we must control the virus first, there might have been more than a razor-thin margin between Joe Biden and the most corrupt, incompetent president in modern history.

Jane PraegerNew YorkThe writer is president of Ovid, a strategic communications firm.

To the Editor:

It is public knowledge that President Trumps hotels and golf courses are losing substantial amounts of money. Without the presidency to help support the occupancy and use of these facilities by those who would like to curry favor with the president, these facilities would be a financial disaster.

See original here:
Opinion | Democracy in America: Counting the Votes - The New York Times