The US electoral system: Why not always win the most voted?
It is not about who gets the most votes in the EE group. But to achieve a majority of the representatives that correspond to the states in the so-called Electoral College.
Although Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump are competing to win the po[CENSORED]r vote in the Nov. 8 election, UU. Falls to the Electoral College, a system with 229 years of history.
Voters, therefore, do not directly elect the forty-fifth president of the nation, but delegate that function to 538 electors or voters who, on their behalf, will vote in the 50 states of the country and the District of Columbia (capital city) .
The Electoral College, which also elects the vice president, was created in 1787 by the authors of the US Constitution, after ruling out the direct election by po[CENSORED]r vote in order to protect small states from the power of the great.
The number of voters in each state is equal to the number of their senators plus the number of their representatives. Thus, the total number of compromisers is 538, equivalent to House of Representatives (435), Senate legislators (100) plus the three delegates from the District of Columbia.
Therefore, Clinton and Trump need a majority of 270 votes to win the presidential election.
Among the states with the most electoral votes are California (55), Texas (38), Florida and New York (29), Pennsylvania and Illinois (20) and Ohio (18).
The candidate who wins in a state, is equal to who wins by a vote of difference or by a million, stays with all its representatives in the Electoral College. If, for example, Clinton wins in California, the 55 California Electoral College representatives are for her. Not always wins the most voted candidate
In general, the winner of the electoral vote usually coincides with the winner of the po[CENSORED]r vote, although four presidents have been elected after losing in terms of number of votes at the polls:
In 1824, John Quincy Adams received about 38,000 votes less than Andrew Jackson, but was eventually made with the White House.
In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes won the Electoral College by a single vote, despite being defeated by Samuel T. Tilden by about 264,000 po[CENSORED]r suffrages.
In 1888, Benjamin Harrison prevailed in the Electoral College by 65 votes, although lost to Grover Cleveland in the polls.
In 2000, George W. Bush lost the po[CENSORED]r vote against Al Gore by 0.51%, but ended up winning by 271 electoral votes compared to 266 of his opponent.
In case of a tie or that no candidate obtains the majority of electoral votes, the decision to elect the president passes to the House of Representatives, where each state delegation has one vote. The same process applies to the election of the vice president in that situation, but the selection is in charge of the Senate.
Only two presidents have been elected by the lower house:
In 1801, Thomas Jefferson defeated Aaron Burr after 36 consecutive votes.
In 1825, John Quincy Adams defeated Andrew Jackson in the first vote.
EEUU. Is therefore the only country that elects a president with political power through an electoral college and the only one in which a candidate can reach the head of state without achieving the highest number of po[CENSORED]r votes, a particularity criticized by experts who attribute To the system a democratic deficit.