The Electoral College and Your Vote for President

The American people have spoken, and the not-so-gentle gentleman from New York will be our 45th President. Well, okay, the American people did speak, but they actually elected Secretary Clinton.

Does that not make sense? Does that aggravate you? Do not fear, my good reader. Let me explain.

The constitution crafted a plan that ensures your vote doesn’t actually count the way you think it does, because while we’re a democracy, it becomes difficult to follow through what that means when it dictates giving the people the power to decide who runs it. You might have heard of the plan our constitution crafted for electing our president.

It’s called the Electoral College, and it has evolved to essentially structure a system whereby the 50 states plus Washington, DC each hold their own separate elections for president on Election Day.

Eligible citizens can vote, but they aren’t actually voting for the presidential candidates themselves; they’re voting to elect so-called “electors” in their state who will go on to cast the actual votes for president. Each state is given a number of electoral votes equal to the number of representatives and senators they have, and DC gets three.

Candidates receiving the most votes in a state wins all of that state’s electoral votes. They must find a way to win in enough states (but not necessarily the country as a whole) to get to 270 electoral votes. That’s not actually what most of us would characterize as “democratic,” though.

NPR did the math and found that a candidate could get to 270 with just 23 percent of the total popular vote.

In substantial numbers, the American people have grown tired of the Electoral College, a relic of 18th-century power grabs and prejudiced electoral strategy. Gallup reported in 2013 that 63 percent of adults would vote for getting rid of it. In fact, the percentage of those who would vote for getting rid of the Electoral College does not fall below 60 percent for any age demographic, or for Republicans, Independents, and Democrats.

Aldo Torres, a college graduate from Aurora, is one of the many people who are fed up with the system we have.

“I believe a political reform is necessary, and having Donald Trump as the president only emphasizes that point,” he said.

Like many millennials, he is obviously weary over the proposed policies of Mr. Trump, but he is also concerned that the will of the majority is being ignored in this country. In an unfortunate repeat of the 2000 presidential election, his concerns have seemingly been validated.

Dan Valdez, a current college student also from Aurora, gave me a similar opinion. He stated, “Yeah, the electoral thing has got to go. It’s not fair. I’m disappointed more than anything. It’s sad that somebody with no political background can run for office, even though Clinton worked so hard for it.”

Dan is exactly right. It’s not fair, and the nonchalant attitude Dan showed toward the implicit unfairness of our Electoral College is symptomatic of a deep-rooted disillusionment with an electoral process seemingly aimed at undermining the voice of each individual voter.

Those two aren’t not the only ones who feel this way. When I spoke with Eric Soto — yes, I talk to my Dad about the articles I write — about the results of the election, he was confused at how Hillary Clinton received more votes but ended up having to give a concession speech the next morning.

“I’m old-fashioned, but one vote is one vote.”

While I wish he were right, the projected 1.5 million more people who will have voted for Clinton than for Trump would probably beg to differ.

However you are feeling about the outcome of this election, it has to grate upon your democratic sensibilities to see one candidate win the election without the popular vote.

If you believe in the idea of a democratic election, and if you also believe in one person having one equal vote, call your representative at 202-225-3121 and your senators at 202-224-3121 to tell them that.