News

Clinton Hit A Huge Milestone

by Margaret Judson

It was already known that Donald Trump hadn't captured the popular vote, despite some supporters calling his presidential win a "mandate," but his deficit to his Democratic rival has hit a milestone. Hillary Clinton's popular vote lead surpassed 2 million, according to the latest from the nonpartisan Cook Political Report released early Wednesday.

Even though Clinton's going home with a healthy majority of the popular vote (64,223,958 votes over Donald Trump’s 62,206,395) she's not going home to the White House. As we all know by now, Trump secured well over the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.

However, Trump is still president-elect, not president just yet. It's still up to the Electoral College members to cast their votes on Dec. 19. So far, a handful of electors are reportedly, according to Politico, ready to push back against a Trump win and to cast their votes against him. But it likely won't have enough of an impact to sway the outcome. Even if it did, with Republicans running the House, they could (and we can all but assume would) choose to override that decision and confirm Trump as the next president.

To put it in perspective, the last time a candidate won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote was in 2000 when George W. Bush took home the presidency over Al Gore. Gore contested the outcome, as the controversy amounted to a lawsuit that Gore ultimately lost. That time, Gore only won the popular vote by just over 500,000 votes.

Now, after two similar outcomes of individual American votes being usurped by the Electoral College in just the last five elections, certain legislators are moving to find an alternative to the system. Currently, California Sen. Barbara Boxer is leading the charge to get rid of the Electoral College, explaining in a statement:

In my lifetime, I have seen two elections where the winner of the general election did not win the 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 The Electoral College is an outdated, undemocratic system that does not reflect our modern society, and it needs to change immediately.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.

No matter the outcome of this particular election, the potential faithless electors combined with the initiation of legislation that would reform the current structure looks to be an opportunity for change.