With the presidential race as tight as it is, it could turn out that the winner of the popular vote will still lose the election. And it’s all because of an old American tradition: the Electoral College.
We’ve seen this fuzzy math before. In the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, Bush won fewer popular votes than Gore but carried the electoral college, thus giving him the victory. Actually, 15 Presidents including Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy have taken the office with less than 50 percent of the popular vote.
That’s got some people worried that the majority of Americans won’t be represented after the votes are tallied. And just like any other election year, it comes with calls to abolish the Electoral College for good.
Dr. John Koza is chairman of National Popular Vote, Inc., originator of popular vote legislation, co-author of “Every Vote Equal: A State-Based Plan for Electing the President by National Popular Vote,” and creator of the electoral college board game.
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