Wether you voted for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, all Americans can agree that this has been one of the most controversial presidential elections in our history.
Both the Republican and Democratic campaigns had their respective issues — Americans worried about national security in regards to Clinton's email scandal as well as Trump's temper and readiness to "bomb the hell" out of opposing nations and organizations. Neither candidate obtained the nations unquestionable trust and both offended several groups whether that be their opponents supporters or those of other races and gender.
But after a long and annoying tedious road to presidency, Donald Trump came out on top. But did he really?
The United States has long prided themselves on allowing the people to choose their next president, so to many, that would mean that each vote submitted would make a difference in who became the next president. However, since the beginning of US history, the Electoral College has been the deciding factor.
Since I'm not and don't claim to be a political pro, I had to do some research to fully understand what the Electoral College does, how it works and why the U.S. uses it.
Long story short, when Americans cast their vote, that vote doesn't go directly towards deciding the next president. Instead, it goes to a state elector. The candidate who wins the popular vote in that state gets all of that state's electoral votes.
So say one candidate wins the popular vote by 51 percent, that candidate will still win all of the electoral votes of that state just like they would if they won the popular vote by 90 percent.
This system, developed by the Founding Fathers was created due to the fact that during the first few presidential elections, allowing each vote to count towards the election was impractical.
Back then, without the internet or television, many parts of the country didn't even know some candidates were running and it was also impossible to count that many votes in a timely manner. Because of this, they elected those who were "qualified" to vote and just went off of those votes.
The Electoral College made sense back then, but now that we have the ability to communicate across the country and the technology to count each vote, it's time for a change.
In this election, not unlike others in history, Clinton is actually winning the popular vote by 219,762 votes with more absentee ballots still uncounted.
I'm not against the Electoral College because I think Hillary should've won, I would have an issue with the system even if the roles were reversed and Trump had won the popular vote but lost the presidency overall. It's not about just this election, or the other few that have been similar in outcomes, it's about an outdated system that denies American's to have their vote count.
"That's just the way it works, that's how it's always been," you might be saying. But if America didn't change anything because "that's how it's always been," women wouldn't be allowed to have jobs, let alone vote. African Americans would still be using separate water fountains and public pools while all of the White males chose our president.
Just because the Electoral College is how the Founding Fathers decided to decide on a president, doesn't mean that we still have to stick to 18th Century ideals.
