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The electoral college's main failing is that it does not accurately represent the popular vote of the nation. Each state is given a certain amount of electoral votes, and then the electoral votes are used to determine the winner of US presidential elections. So if you voted for Candidate A, but Candidate B won the majority in your state, your whole state goes to Candidate B in the electoral college--effectively disempowering your vote.

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Because most states award all of their electoral votes to the top vote-getter in that state, candidates do not need to win the national popular vote to win a majority of electoral votes. The result is that winning a few large population states (called swing states), even by a tiny margin, can guarantee election to the presidency. In 1876, 1888, and 2000, the winning candidate did not get the most popular votes nationwide.

It is possible, but unlikely, that getting as little as 25% of the total popular vote (the most votes in 11 swing states) would be enough to elect a President under the electoral college.

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9y ago
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8y ago

There are several. One of the biggest flaws is that the popular vote winner will not necessarily win the electoral vote, as was the case in the presidential election of 2000. Another large flaw is that if no candidate receives more than 270 electoral votes, the election is sent to the House of Representatives to be decided on. Instead of having each representative vote, each state gets one vote, regardless of population. So, Wyoming, with a population of app. 600,000 would have the same same in the election as California, a state with nearly 40 million people.

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Q: What is the main complaint against the electoral college?
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