[ad_1]
The president and vice president of the United States are not elected by popular vote. Instead, Article II, Part I of the Constitution establishes that the indirect election of the superior organs of the country is carried out by a group of “electors” appointed by the state. This group is called the Electoral College.
To win the presidency of the United States, the candidate must win at least 270 electoral votes of this 538 total. The number of electors that each state contributes to the electoral college is equal to the number of state members in parliament, where the number of senators is set at 2 persons / state. Voters are distributed according to the population of each state, but even the least populated states are guaranteed a minimum of three constitutional electors, including one senator and two senators.
Since most states (48 plus Washington) give all of their electoral votes to the person who won the most popular state votes, a candidate is mathematically capable of winning the most electoral votes, even if the popular vote is lost.
For example, if a candidate wins with a large percentage in some of the most populous states, they may have more popular votes. However, if your opponent narrowly wins in a series of smaller states, that person can still win the electoral votes. Basically that’s what happened in 2016 elections.
Historically, there have been five American presidents who have been elected, despite losing the popular vote.
President John Quincy Adams. Photo: Politico
1. President John Quincy Adams (in 1824)
This is the first time in history that an elected candidate for the presidency loses both the popular and electoral votes. In 1824, there were four presidential candidates, and both were members of the same Democratic-Republican party, including Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William Crawford, and Henry Clay.
When the votes were counted, Jackson won the most popular and electoral votes, but was missing 32 electoral votes to vote. In the event that no candidate obtains a majority of the electoral votes, in accordance with Amendment No. 12, the United States House of Representatives will elect a new president from the three candidates receiving the most electoral votes, by which Mr. Clay is disqualified. of the career.
In the end, the House of Representatives elected Adams as president, although he lost to Jackson in terms of electoral votes.
2. President Rutherford B. Hayes (1876)
As in 1824, parliament determines the results of the 1876 elections. This time, however, the constitution did not have a timely response to the electoral crisis. This is a race between Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes and Democratic candidate Samuel Tilden.
When the number of votes was counted, Mr. Tilden won 184 electoral votes, with exactly 1 vote remaining to be elected in accordance with the regulations at the time. Meanwhile, Hayes only got 165 votes. However, there are 20 electoral votes subject to challenge.
President Rutherford B. Hayes. Photo: Politico
Republicans opposed the results from the states of Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina and both parties confirmed that their candidate won in these states. Although the constitution has a contingency plan in place if no candidate wins a majority of the electoral votes, there is no dispute resolution process.
Thus, the Lower House created a bipartisan Federal Electoral Commission with members of congressmen, senators, and magistrates of the Supreme Court. The committee voted to award 20 disputed electoral votes to Mr. Hayes. As a result, Mr. Hayes was elected with the lowest difference in history: 185 and 184.
3. President Benjamin Harrison (1888)
The 1888 White House race between current Democratic President Grover Cleveland and Republican rival Benjamin Harrison was riddled with corruption scandals. Both parties accused the opponent of bribing the people to vote for their candidate. These voters have no party loyalty, they only vote for the highest bidder.
In the state of Indiana, a letter was published showing Republicans conspiring to bribe voters and undermine similar attempts by the opposition. Meanwhile, Southern Democrats did their best to suppress the vote of color because most of these people were affiliated with the Republican party, “Mr. Lincoln’s party.”
President Benjamin Harrison. Photo: The White House
When the election ended, Cleveland and the Democrats won the entire South, while Harrison and the Republicans won the North and West by a gap. By winning in the South, Cleveland won more popular votes but lost to electoral votes.
Four years later, Cleveland ran again and defeated Harrison, becoming the first and only president of the United States to serve two non-consecutive terms thus far.
4. President George W. Bush (2000)
Over the next 112 years, election results returned to normal as the person who won the election won both the electoral votes and the popular vote. After that, the 2000 elections became so controversial that they were submitted to the Supreme Court.
Candidates include Republican Rep. George W. Bush, son of former President George HW Bush, and Democratic Rep. Al Gore, who served as vice president under former President Bill Clinton.
On election night, the results in the three states of Oregon, New Mexico and Florida were very tight. After that, Mr. Gore won the states of Oregon and New Mexico with a very low difference, so the final result depends on the state of Florida.
President George W. Bush. Photo: AP
The race in Florida was so intense that state law required a recount. When Florida elections official Katherine Harris confirmed that Bush had won 537 more votes than her opponent, Gore filed a lawsuit alleging that the state had counted the wrong votes.
The Florida Superior Court sided with Mr. Gore when he decided to allow a recount of the entire state vote, especially more than 70,000 votes were previously excluded by the recount. However, Bush appealed to the Supreme Court. With 5 votes in favor and 4 votes against, the Federal Supreme Court officially declared the recount order of the Florida Superior Court as “a violation of the constitution.”
The controversial ruling meant that Bush had 25 additional electoral votes in Florida, bringing the total number of electoral votes won to 271. Al Gore’s electoral votes were 266. Results helped Bush win the leadership of the White House, although 544,000 votes less popular than the Democratic candidate.
5. President Donald Trump (2016)
In a surprise victory that contrasted with most polls, Republican candidate Donald Trump beat Democratic rival Hillary Clinton even though Clinton was 2.8 million more popular than Trump, the biggest difference. from before to this.
Clinton performed very well in major cities and populous states like California and New York, but Trump narrowly outstripped victories in battlefield states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. In the end, Trump won convincingly when he obtained 304 electoral votes compared to 227 votes for Clinton.
President Donald Trump. Photo: AP
[ad_2]
