By Eric Pearson
Staff Writer
The election is over and the President Elect of the United States of America is Donald J. Trump, but the majority of Americans didn’t vote for him. How did this happen?Trump won the electoral college, which is the system that the framers of the Constitution established instead of a cut and dried popular vote. The way it works, in theory, is that each state gets a certain number of electors, one for every senator and representative in that state. Because Michigan has 14 Representative in the House (a number proportional to its population) and two Senators (the fixed number for every state) we get a total of 16 electors. Whoever wins the popular vote in Michigan gets all 16 of its electors to vote for them. These electors gather in December to officially cast their ballots and elect the next President of the United States.
There is the exception of Maine and Nebraska where two votes are guaranteed to the winner of the popular vote and the rest are given according to the winner of each congressional district.
There are a total of 538 electors from every state in the union which means that to win a candidate must win at least 270 electoral votes. Trump got 290 total. That being said, the popular vote doesn’t have to go with the electoral college, even though it usually does. If a state votes 100 percent or 51 percent one way it doesn’t affect the number of votes in the electoral college (except in Maine and Nebraska). Because of this it is entirely possible, while unlikely, for a candidate to win the Presidency but not the popular vote.
This system was put in place for a variety of reasons. It keeps candidates from simply campaigning in or catering to cities to gain a large number of votes. By forcing candidates to work for every state, the electoral college helps promote a unifying president who doesn’t favor any one area. Additionally, electors won in each state don’t legally have to cast their ballot for the candidate they are asked to. The Founding Fathers allowed electors to be “faithless” to the people in order to avoid the election of a president that is clearly unfit for office or damaging to the country. Historically, electors voting against the majority vote of their state has never changed the outcome of an election.
The 2016 election was historical in may respects and prompts all Americans with a tough question that has educated and nonpartisan proponents on each side. Can a system that ignores the voice of the people ever be truly fair and Democratic?
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