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Electoral College Failure? Americans Voted For Clinton And Got Trump — Can We Fix This And Future Elections? [Video]

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 19:46 PST, Nov 10, 2016

Americans turned out in droves to vote in one of the most highly controversial presidential elections in decades, and what they got was an Electoral College outcome that let the popular vote voters down. For the second time in sixteen years. While Donald Trump managed to pull off a decisive Electoral College victory on November 8, as CNN reports, Hillary Clinton is winning the popular vote and is expected to be the popular vote winner when all votes are tallied.

Despite what the Electoral College says, the American people didn’t choose Donald Trump. A convoluted system of voting unlike anything used in any other democracy in the world did.

A similar failure of democracy took place back in 2003. That’s when George W. Bush won the Electoral College (after a highly contentious Florida recount), but Al Gore won the popular vote. Twice in under two decades, Democratic presidential candidates who won the popular vote were denied the presidency. And many are furious and demanding change in the future.

As NBC News reports, it is expected that Hillary Clinton will win the popular vote at a higher percentage than Al Gore did in 2000, but the election was still called by the media for Donald Trump due to the Electoral College outcome.

The public response to the perceived travesty of another Democratic presidency stolen by the Electoral College has been massive, and it shows no signs of abating. Even as President-Elect Trump calls for unity, tens of thousands of disgruntled and disgusted Americans have taken to the streets across the country every night since the outcome of the election became clear. Cities like Manhattan, Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltimore, and even Portland, Oregon have found themselves at a standstill as protesters flood streets, disrupt traffic, and chant “Never Trump” and “Not My President.”

The aftermath of a bitter Clinton loss (despite winning the popular vote) has brought the nation’s issues with the electoral college to the forefront of American politics once again. Particularly since this is the second election cycle in the last five that has resulted in the popular vote winner losing the presidency due to the Electoral College.

The fact of the matter is that America’s electoral college system is an utter oddity on the world stage. No other democracy chooses its leaders so bizarrely, and as such many want to see the Electoral College become a thing of the past. Before the 2020 election.

(Note: The United States is not a “pure democracy” like many other nations, but rather a “democratic republic.” We elect representatives to vote on our behalf in Congress so that every American doesn’t have to weigh in on every minute legislative change. Those opposed to the electoral college aren’t trying to change our form of government. They just want to get rid of the electoral college, arguing that when it comes to choosing our leadership, we shouldn’t have others voting on our behalf.)

One such method of obliterating the power of the electoral college is through a campaign known as the National Popular Vote campaign, which was founded by John Koza. Koza and others involved in the campaign want to see every vote count, regardless of what state a voter lives in. The aim is to ensure that in every future election cycle, the presidential candidate with the most votes wins. No more Electoral College, no more controversy.

“We think every vote should be equal throughout the United States. We think the candidate who gets the most votes should become president.”

The only problem is that it would require a Constitutional amendment to officially abolish the electoral college in the United States. Multiple proposals to get rid of the Electoral College have been introduced to the U.S. Congress over the years. Unfortunately, all attempts to make the Electoral College part of antiquity have failed.

So how can we do it?

According to John Koza, his brainchild, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC), could solve the problem. As Daily KOS reports, Koza’s plan to eradicate the Electoral College relies on interstate cooperation, not Congressional approval. In a nutshell, the NPVIC is an agreement that has (already) been reached between multiple states and Washington D.C. to dole out their electoral votes to the presidential candidate that wins the national popular vote. If it could be brought to pass, the NPVIC would only be applied to election results “when it would guarantee the outcome” of the race.

Further, it would ensure that the President-Elect of future elections is the candidate the majority of Americans voted for. Not who won the Electoral College dice roll.

So far, Washington D.C. plus ten states have joined the Electoral College-eliminating pact. If we can get enough states on board, we can ensure that the Electoral College never costs another popular vote winner the White House again. And without waiting for Congress to approve a Constitutional amendment.

If you are interested in lending your support to the NPVIC, here’s the petition. So far, over 227,000 Americans have signed.

While the NPVIC has the potential of getting rid of the Electoral College in future presidential races, what about this one? Is there anything that infuriated, short-changed American voters can do to change the outcome of the divisive 2016 race?

As The Huffington Post reports, the answer could be yes. There is still a chance, albeit a slim one, that the Electoral College could result in a non-Trump POTUS before the 2016 election cycle is all said and done.

Even though Election Day was November 8, and even though the electoral race has already been called for Trump (as of late November 10, he has 290 electoral votes to Hillary’s 228, well more than the 270 he needed to win), the results of the election won’t become official until December 19. That’s when the human members of the Electoral College get together and cast their votes to officially elect the POTUS.

Traditionally, Electors vote for the candidate chosen by their respective states. However, this isn’t a legal requirement. The Founding Fathers actually created the Electoral College to ensure that “the office of president will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.” This means that Electors have the right (and responsibility) to vote their conscience if need be.

If only a few (between ten and a maximum of thirty-seven, give or take) Republican Electors refuse to vote for Trump, his electoral vote count could fall below 270 and he would fail to clinch an Electoral College win. If Electors chose not to give their electoral votes to Trump, they could give them to “any candidate who meets the requirements for President and Vice President.”

If that were to happen, neither Trump nor Clinton would reach the required 270 electoral votes, and the determination of who becomes the 45th President of the United States would be turned over to the House of Representatives.

The House would then vote between the three potential presidents who got the most electoral votes in the election. Most likely, this would eliminate Hillary Clinton as a possibility, as Republican Electors would almost certainly give their electoral votes to Republican or conservative candidates.

However, it could conceivably prevent President-Elect Trump from becoming President Trump, which is what many protesting Americans are desperately aiming for in aftermath of a shocking election night outcome.

A petition on Change.org for the Electoral College Electors to “Make Hillary Clinton President” on December 19 has already collected over two million signatures.

While it seems unlikely that the Electors will thumb their noses at history, they are well within their rights to do so. If they choose that route to obstruct Donald Trump’s Electoral College victory, it’s likely that the current election result fallout will only explode further. However, at this point, citizens are demanding that something be done about this election while America’s Electoral College problem is ironed out.

What do you think? Is it time for the Electoral College to go? Should Electors use their vote to change the Electoral College outcome of the 2016 election?

[Featured Image by Marc Kluge/Shutterstock]

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