Like It or Not Electoral College Picks Our President
Ever feel your vote was essentially erased on election night because your state’s electoral votes went to the candidate you didn’t endorse?
You’re not alone. Controversy abounds over our country’s Electoral College system, especially after the contentious 2016 presidential election when Donald Trump lost the popular vote but was victorious because he received 304 electoral votes compared to Hillary Clinton’s 227 votes.
In the Electoral College system, each state receives a certain number of electors based on its number of senators and representatives in Congress. Our country’s Founding Fathers created the Electoral College as a compromise between electing the President via a vote in Congress or via a popular vote only.
There are a total of 538 electoral votes, so the candidate who gets more than 270 electoral votes wins. There have been four times in our country’s history when the candidate who lost the popular vote won the election, most recently in the 2000 and 2016 elections.
When the will of the people is subverted by the Electoral College system, voters can become discouraged. Indeed, about 40 percent of the voting-eligible population does not vote during presidential election years. Many say it is because they don’t believe their vote matters.
However, participating in elections is one of the key freedoms and responsibilities of being an American. Many have lost their lives fighting to defend and preserve our system of democracy over the years.
In addition, it’s not just the candidates running for U.S. President who are on the ballot. In each election, there are candidates, referendums, questions, and more on the state and local level that impact us personally such as taxes, education, health care, social programs, the right to carry a firearm or not be killed by one, the environment, infrastructure, and on and on.
For the latest national and state polling updates from the Princeton Election Consortium, click below.
P.S. Do you know if your state mandates time off from work to vote? If not, click here to check out our new State-by-State guide on “Time Off to Vote” policies.
