A California senator introduced legislation Tuesday to rid the United States of its electoral college, the system that allowed Donald Trump to win the presidency despite Hillary Clinton’s lead of nearly one million votes.
The measure comes amid calls for reform following last Tuesday’s presidential upset, but is a long-shot.
“This is the only office in the land where you can get more votes and still lose the presidency,” said Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, who introduced the measure.
The US Constitution specifies that the electoral college ultimately decides the presidential election, not the popular vote.
Each US state is given a number of electors, which corresponds to the size of the state’s population.
In 48 of 50 states, rules require all of a state’s electors to cast their votes for whichever candidate wins the popular vote there, in a winner-take-all system.
Under these rules, the winner of the electoral college vote does not always correspond to the candidate who won the country’s popular vote.
“The electoral college is an outdated, undemocratic system that does not reflect our modern society, and it needs to change immediately. Every American should be guaranteed that their vote counts,” Boxer said.
Although Clinton received nearly 800,000 more votes than Trump, according to the latest partial results, she lost in the electoral college.
The electoral vote is at 290 for Trump and 232 for Clinton, although one state has yet to be called. No matter its turnout, they do not have enough electors to bring Clinton a win.
More than 4.3 million people have signed a petition on the change.org website asking the college’s 538 electors to elect Clinton on December 19, when their votes will be officially counted.
But because 26 states legally mandate that electors vote according to the rules and it is almost unprecedented for the remaining states’ electors to disobey, there is little possibility of a Clinton presidency.
Clinton’s popular vote performance brings to mind the 2000 election, when Democrat Al Gore lost the White House despite taking 48.4 percent of the popular vote to George W. Bush’s 47.9 percent.
Hundreds of Constitutional amendments have been proposed over the decades concerning the electoral college, but none has succeeded.
Amending the Constitution requires the agreement of two-thirds of Congress and ratification by three-quarters of the states.
Trump himself had strongly criticized the electoral college in 2012 calling it a “disaster.” On Tuesday, however, he changed his tune.
“The Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play. Campaigning is much different!” Trump tweeted.
digoxin without prescription buy lanoxin cheap molnupiravir 200 mg
diamox 250mg pill purchase azathioprine online buy imuran
buy digoxin 250 mg pill buy molnunat sale order generic molnupiravir 200 mg
buy amoxil pills order amoxicillin 500mg ivermectin 15 mg
coreg 25mg without prescription purchase ditropan generic order elavil sale
order dapoxetine 60mg online cheap avana order online buy domperidone 10mg
order fosamax 35mg generic ibuprofen ca order motrin 400mg pill
purchase indomethacin generic tamsulosin cost purchase cenforce pill
order nortriptyline 25mg pills paroxetine 20mg oral paroxetine pills
doxycycline over the counter purchase medrol generic methylprednisolone online
oral famotidine 20mg mirtazapine cost order mirtazapine 30mg for sale
requip oral labetalol oral brand labetalol
tadacip 10mg without prescription order plavix 150mg amoxicillin cost
order tricor 200mg online tricor pills viagra sildenafil 200mg
order nexium 20mg pills order clarithromycin without prescription furosemide for sale online
order tadalafil 20mg without prescription viagra australia order generic sildenafil 100mg
minocin 100mg capsules terazosin 5mg price brand hytrin 1mg
cialis online buy cialis canada best ed medications
glucophage generic buy tamoxifen 20mg pill nolvadex 10mg price
provigil over the counter order stromectol 6mg online cheap order generic promethazine 25mg
purchase clomid sale prednisolone 5mg pills buy prednisolone for sale
oral deltasone 40mg amoxicillin 250mg pills order amoxicillin 250mg generic
isotretinoin 40mg for sale ampicillin 250mg tablet ampicillin 250mg without prescription
order sildenafil 50mg pills cost lyrica order propecia 1mg pill
buy ivermectin 6mg fda approved over the counter ed pills buy deltasone 5mg
zofran 8mg uk bactrim ca purchase bactrim pill
buy accutane 10mg without prescription order azithromycin 500mg pill cheap azithromycin 250mg
order albuterol 2mg for sale levothyroxine us augmentin 625mg over the counter