It’s been a long and bumpy ride to yesterday’s Electoral College vote that officially declared the winners—billionaire businessman Donald J. Trump (president) and Gov. Michael R. Pence of Indiana (vice president)—in the 2016 presidential race. But the end of the race isn’t putting an end to intense debate and dissatisfaction about the process that won them, and previous candidates going back to 1787, victory.
The president and vice president, the highest offices in the land, are elected by the Electoral College, not directly by popular vote. The merits of the 2016 final candidates—including Democrats Hillary R. Clinton, former secretary of state (president), and running mate Tim Kaine, junior U.S. senator from Virginia)—aside, they did get 2.8 million more popular votes than the Trump-Pence ticket.
Leid Stories asks: Is it time to abolish the Electoral College and let the people decide?