The Electoral College Bias
How an outdated system skews our presidential elections and disenfranchises voters
Unless you’re living under a rock, you have probably heard some news about the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election. Every four years, this pivotal event dominates the news around the world for months leading up to election day. If you’ve found yourself sick of election news in general lately, there’s a good reason for it. 2024 set a record for the most voters ever with about 4 billion eligible voters eligible casting ballots in over 100 countries around the world¹!
I live in the United States and have become increasingly interested in following elections since I became old enough to vote. The first presidential election I voted in and followed was the one in 2016. Of all the races I could have chosen as my first, I don’t think there was a crazier race out there! Donald Trump pulled off one of the most surprising upset wins in U.S. election history. Most forecasting models put Hillary Clinton at over a 90% chance of winning.
The 2016 election was notable for many other reasons. I was mostly confused by the results because Hillary Clinton had won almost 3 million more votes than Donald Trump. If she got more votes, then why wasn’t she the winner?
