The Electoral College

The Electoral College is responsible for electing the President based on the popular vote, but why was this additional step is added? Like many aspects of American government, the Electoral College began as a compromise. Many of the Founding Fathers felt that the President should be elected by the people directly. Others worried about uninformed “factions” gaining power and electing a candidate who would hurt society as a whole. They preferred a system where Congress elects the Chief Executive, similar to the Parliamentary system in Britain. The Electoral College was agreed upon as an effective compromise. The Electoral College has changed over the years and serves mostly as a formality in modern times.

There are 538 electoral votes, representing 435 House members, 100 Senators, and three votes from Washington D.C. To become President, a candidate must win the majority, or at least 270, of the electoral votes. Most states allocate their electoral votes based a "winner takes all" model, where the winner of a state’s popular vote receives all of the electoral votes. This means a candidate who receives 51% of the votes in a state wins 100% of the electoral votes.

It is possible for a presidential candidate to win the popular vote, but lose the electoral vote, such as the 2016 presidential election when Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but lost the electoral vote to Donald Trump. This also happened during the 2000 presidential election when Al Gore lost to George W. Bush. This "winner takes all" model is often viewed as a major flaw of the Electoral College.