Does The Electoral College Discourage New Yorkers From Voting?

    The Electoral College was put in place for many reasons, the main reason was to make sure that the proper President was elected.  The founding fathers felt that many Americans were not educated enough to be able to vote for the President of the United States outright, so they set up what is known as the electoral college to make sure that a worthy President would be elected.  Citizens of the United States cast their vote for the popular vote, which is then used to determine which party electors would be sent to Washington, to officially select the President and Vice President.
    Although the electoral college is a smart idea, in that it sends politically knowledgable people to Washington to represent and elect a President based upon their states votes.  I believe that although the electoral college makes sense on a national scale, it deters many New Yorkers from voting based on the fact that New York historically votes democratically.  For those New York citizens who have Republican ideologies, voting in the Presidential election is virtually a waste of time.  No matter how many votes go towards the Republican candidate, New York seems as though it will always end up Democratic, therefore sending Democrats to the electoral college to vote on behalf of the majority party.  Because New York has one of the largest cities in the world, and cities tend to vote more democratically than rural areas, Republican New Yorkers are left with virtually no voice in the Presidential election.
    I feel that the only way to encourage New Yorkers to vote, would be get rid of the electoral college and vote for a President based solely on the Popular Vote.  Although could be dangerous due to the large number of politically uneducated people, it would prove to represent the feelings of Americans more accurately.