All people are created equal, though people who live in swing states are more equal than others.

That's what a number of critics of the nation's Electoral College think. Studies show that presidential candidates spend more time campaigning in swing states, and swing states get disproportionately more federal funding.

"In fact, they devote all of their campaigning, all of their ad dollars, all of their time on these swing states," said Jesse Wegman, a member of the New York Times Editorial Board and the author of "Let the People Pick the President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College."

The Electoral College, Wegman explains, was set up in an era without mass media or quick transportation, when only a small percentage of the population were expected to know anything about national candidates. But the college, and the ubiquitous winner-take-all system of apportioning electors, has been perpetuated by slave-holding states, segregationists, and others who believe it furthers their specific interests.

Listen to his conversation with WNYC's David Furst, above.