November 8, 2016 marked a very significant event in American history. Americans across the country anticipated the presidential election as they sent in their ballots and waited for the results.
After an apparent vision that clearly stated who was the winner, many began crying and started to feel depressed, while others cheered and broke out in tears of joy.
The electoral map showed the evident winner. Nonetheless, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 59,755,284 while Republican candidate Donald Trump received 59,535,522 popular votes.
How did Donald Trump win this election?
The reason lies in our country’s voting system, particularly the Electoral College. It is definitely "anything but equal," according to Bailey Shafer, a fellow content creator.
Your vote does not really determine who becomes president. The Electoral College does.
Do our votes matter though? Yes, it still does. However, when you cast your vote, you are voting for Electoral College representatives in your state to elect the president. Our votes influence their decisions, but in the end, it’s still completely out of our control, because it all depends on the Electoral College.
There are times when our votes (the popular vote) and the Electoral College (the electoral votes) do not agree with each other like this election, for instance.
Do I think our voting system is unfair? Yes, I do believe it’s unfair. Dozens of articles against the Electoral College have already been voiced and published for years. Yet, here we still are using the same old system.
On social media feeds, particularly Facebook, there have been tons of shares regarding a president impeachment. NO, it is definitely not the way to go.
How does impeachment work?
Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution says, "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
It is up to the House of Representatives to decide whether an act is treason, bribery, crimes and/or misdemeanors.
Impeachment of a President is very complex. Moreover, according to the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, when a president is impeached, the next man in line for the position will be the Vice President.
For example, if President-elect Donald Trump gets impeached, Vice President-Elect Mike Pence will be the next President.
Despite how upsetting the presidential results are to me and many, we have to keep in mind how the system works and how important it is to be aware of how our country functions.
Furthermore, it is also important to know that protests happen because of disapproval, violation and objection. There are protests across the country right now because there are people who object and feel like their rights have been violated and they are in danger.
However, besides all that, we need to know the system and where we should stand before sharing things in social media and jumping into conversations about the election.
