I normally don’t blog about politics, but the Presidential race this year has gotten me thinking about the American Democracy and how we Americans pick the President of the United States. We all know that when we vote for the President, we’re not actually voting for the President, but instead, we are voting for how our state’s Electoral votes should be cast. Most people also know that whichever candidate wins the majority of people’s votes is awarded all of the Electoral votes for that state. What you may not known is that it’s possible for a candidate in a 2-man race, who receives only 22% of people’s vote, to become the President of the United States. You read that right. Th current rules allow for a candidate who wins a landslide 78% of the popular vote to actually lose the election!
How is that possible, you ask? Simple mathematics. To understand how the Electoral College system of picking a President works, lets assume we only have 2 states in the United States of This Example (USTE). USTE’s states have the following names, populations and Electoral Votes:
|
State Name |
Population |
Electoral Votes |
|
State A |
5,000,001 |
10 |
|
State B |
4,999,999 |
9 |
In order for a candidate to win the Presidency in our fictitious country, USTE, the candidate must receive 10 electoral votes (10 being the majority of the 19 possible Electoral Votes). Now, lets assume that during the election in USTE, the votes are counted and the results are as follows:
|
Candidate Name |
Votes Received
In State A |
Votes Received
In State B |
Total Votes
Received |
Total Electoral Votes Received |
|
Candidate Y |
2,500,001 |
0 |
2,500,001 |
10 (State A) |
|
Candidate Z |
2,500,000 |
4,999,999 |
7,499,999 |
9 (State B) |
Note that in this election, Candidate Y wins the Presidency since he received the 10 Electoral Votes needed to win the majority of the Electoral Votes. Candidate Z lost the election even though 75% of the people voted for Candidate Z.
The United States of America also picks its President in much the same way as our fictitious country, USTE. However, United States has many more states with a complex array of Electoral Votes that’s loosely based on population. In some states (such as Wyoming), the state receives 1 Electoral Vote for every 167,000 of its population (Wyoming has 3 electoral votes with only a population of 501,242) while other states (such as California) receive 1 Electoral Vote for every 645,000 of its population (California has only 55 Electoral votes with a whopping population of 35,484,453). If California’s representation was to be similar to Wyoming, California would have to receive 212 Electoral Votes.
This completely unbalanced Electoral College system of voting allows for a worst-possible case for the President of the United States to be determined by only 22% of voters while the 78% majority go home to a democratically picked President by the 22%. Of course, this dooms-day scenario is highly unlikely, but I can't help wondering why it should be posible at all?