Electors are then asked to confirm their vote on a touch screen, and are leeched one more time for good measure.
In early January, the Senate counts the votes of the electors. If there is an exact tie of 269 each, Congress shall decide the winner. If Congress cannot decide, they flip a coin to see which one they really wanted. If they feel relieved at the coin flip, they go with that one, but if they instantly regret it, they go the other way. They then announce the winner to the public, though nowadays this is largely a formality. By this point, people know the winner because of social media or divine pestilence.
So there you have it. It might seem like a quirky system, but it generally works. Only four times in history has the popular vote differed from the Electoral College vote. Of course, the fact that two of those times have happened since the year 2000 has some people calling for change.
Mark Makela/Getty ImagesNot just the Irish ones.
Ten states and Washington, D.C. have joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, in which they would pledge their electors to whichever candidate wins the popular vote nationally. That doesn't change anything just yet, as it only goes into effect if it gains enough pledged electors to decide the election. But if enough states sign on, we could soon have a system that is de facto decided by the popular vote.
Every voting system has its idiosyncrasies. But proponents of this change claim it could fix a broken situation, where votes are weighted unequally and candidates only campaign in a few battleground states. Opponents say that THOSE WHO DEFY THE OLD GODS WILL BE MADE TO SUFFER.
Aaron Kheifets writes things for money, including this sentence. You are allowed to follow him on Twitter.
For more, check out 4 Political Myths Destroyed By The 2016 Election and 6 Myths About The US Constitution Too Many People Believe.
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