This is in response to the editorial Feb. 24 about the size of the Maine Legislature.

The size is not my major concern. It is the makeup, specifically of the Senate.

The U.S. Senate is made up of two senators from each state, no matter the size of the state or its population. The U.S. House is decided by population – the more people in a state, the more representatives. I think that is a fair and balanced way to be represented.

In Maine, both the state Senate and House are decided by population. That is unfair to the least populated counties. The worst case occurs in the Maine Senate, where Cumberland County has eight senators; York has five; Penobscot has four; and Androscoggin has three. My county, Franklin, has one.

So, four counties combined have 20 of the 35 senators. That is not a fair and balanced way of being represented. If senators of those four counties wanted a specific piece of legislation passed, they could do it, without input from any of the other senators from other counties. That’s probably not the way it works out, but it could.

I’m not sure that each county should have two senators, but it isn’t fair that one county has eight while 10 of the other counties have only one each.

Is the Legislature too big? Maybe, or maybe not, but it certainly is lopsided in favor of the counties with the most population.

Gregory Butterfield,

Farmington Falls