A retiring Californian Senator, Barbara Boxer, filed a legislation on Tuesday to rid the United States of its electoral college in light of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote, but still losing the election.
“This is the only office in the land where you can get more votes and loose the presidency”, Boxer said.
Her bill calls for an amendment to the constitution that will end the Electoral College system, as the US constitution specifies that the electoral college ultimately decides the Presidential election.
“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 The Electoral College is an outdated, undemocratic system that does not reflect our modern society and it needs to change immediately.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,” Boxer said.
Although Clinton led Trump with nearly 800,000 votes, according to latest partial results, she lost in the electoral college. This brings to mind the 2000 elections, where Democrat Al Gore lost the White House despite taking 48.4 percent of the popular vote to George. W. Bush who had 47.9 percent.
In 2012, President-elect Donald Trump had strongly criticized the electoral college, calling it a “disaster”.
However on Tuesday, Trump tweeted, “The Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, including the smaller ones into play. Campaigning is much different!”
Hundreds of Constitutional Amendments concerning the Electoral College have been proposed over decades, but none have been considered.