How the American Electoral College works

[Retro]

The American Electroral College is a somewhat confusing part of general elections, so here's a handy explainer.

It's not generally regarded as a good system, so many attempts have been made to either scrap or reform it, but incredibly, all of them have failed so far.

Regarded as an anachronism by critics, there have been an estimated 700 attempts to scrap the College or reform it.

The first was made by Alexander Hamilton, one of the College’s original architects in 1802 and the most recent was in 1969 when a constitutional amendment was given overwhelming backing by the House of Representatives, but talked out by opponents in the Senate.

When the amendment was finally brought before the Senate in 1979, it was backed by a majority of senators but fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for a constitutional amendment.

What the electoral college is – and why it was created in the first place

In 2016 Donald Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton but became president as a result of his winning a majority in the Electoral College.

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[Tiffany]

Most American's believe the popular vote is what wins the election. It's the electoral college that's the deciding factor of the presidential election. This is why presidential candidates do their best to win over the electors to secure those votes before the election. Good article, as every American should really know how a presidential candidate really wins.