The Electoral College, explained

Why some Americans’ votes matter more than others. Watch more of our election coverage: http://vox.com/ElectionVideos In the 2000 US presidential election, the Democratic candidate received half a million more votes than the Republican. The Democrat lost. Sixteen years later, the same thing happened again. In the United States, if you’re running for president, it doesn’t matter how many people vote for you. What matters, however, is an obscure system for selecting America’s head of state called the Electoral College. The Electoral College is the reason why the United States has what are called “swing states”, and it is the reason why these places decide the future of the country. This is why presidential candidates almost never campaign in the country’s largest cities. And more recently, it is also the reason why Republican candidates have been able to achieve victories in the presidential election without obtaining the greatest number of votes. The Electoral College gives the votes of some Americans more power than others. In fact, that’s part of the reason we set it up in the first place; In the country’s early years, the Electoral College helped give the votes of white Southerners more weight than those of Northerners. The fundamental idea, that some votes simply matter more than others, is rooted in American tradition. In the 2020 elections, it could decide the winner. Further Reading: Historian Alexander Keyssar’s book “Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College?” takes you through the history and workings of the Electoral College: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674660151 For a reduced version of this story, Keyssar also wrote this article in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/opinion/electoral-college-racism-white-supremacy.html The Times also had a great interactive feature on where the 2020 candidates actually spent money: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/17/us/politics/trump-biden-campaign-ad-sending.html Pew explains how democracies around the world elect their leaders State, which really shows how strange the United States is: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/22/among-democracies-us-stands-out-in-how-it -chooses-its-head-of -state/ To learn more about why the current Electoral College gives Republican presidential candidates a structural advantage: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics /2019/9/17/20868790/republicans-lose-popular-vote-win -electoral-college Vox.com is a news site that helps you cut through the noise and understand what’s really driving the events that make headlines. Visit http://www.vox.com. Watch our complete video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE Follow Vox on Facebook: http://goo.gl/U2g06o Or Twitter: http://goo.gl/XFrZ5H

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