The Electoral College and Electing a President: We’re the Only Ones

Freedom and Democracy
Written By Sadie Cornelius

The Electoral College system of voting for the American presidential election is an antiquated system and often confusing, winner-take-all system, putting the spotlight on individual states where race-thin victories could decide the election for the entire country. About 150 million citizens voted in the 2024 presidential election, but they didn’t vote directly for the president. Rather they voted for electors who are pledged to a candidate.

Five times in American history, the most recent being in 2000 and 2016, the losing candidate had more popular votes than the winner. In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote by 500,000, but lost in the Electoral College; in 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote with 3 million more votes than Donald Trump but lost in the Electoral College tally.

There have been over 700 measures proposed in Congress to get rid of the Electoral College method of choosing a president. But none have succeeded. The antiquated electoral system gives Republicans a better chance of winning the White House than reliance on solely on the popular vote.

When it comes to electing a country’s most important public official, the president, the system employed in the United States is a definite outlier. No other country uses such a mechanism.

Sadie Cornelius

Sadie K Cornelius is a proud Longhorn and graduate of the University of Texas at Austin’s Moody School of Communications with a Bachelor's in Advertising and a minor in Business.

She has more than 15 years of experience in Squarespace website and graphic design for 200+ clients all over the world.

A fourth generation business owner Sadie is passionate about helping others through creating compelling visuals and cohesive brand identities. She’s been featured in Forbes as a female-owned company, has taught several digital marketing classes at General Assembly, is a volunteer for non-profit organizations.

Sadie enjoys traveling the world, spending time with her husband, King Charles Cavalier, and families in the Carolinas. Originally from Kansas City, Sadie resides in Washington DC (but is forever an Austin girl at heart).

https://www.skc-marketing.com
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