HENRIETTA, N.Y. -- Donald Trump this week won 279 electoral votes, more than the half needed to become president-elect. At last report, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than 200,000.
It's the 5th time in the nation’s history where a president-elect won the electoral vote, but not the popular vote.
“It was really clear in this election that no matter who won, there was going to be at least 50 percent of the population that was livid and 50 percent of the population who was ecstatic,” said Sarah Burns, RIT political science assistant professor.
With some questioning the system of the Electoral College, Burns said our founding fathers put it into place as a way to make sure people didn’t vote in someone who wasn’t eligible or qualified in a meaningful way.
“For example, if the people actually decided to elect someone that wasn’t born in the United States, than the Electoral College could say ‘we have a problem here because that person isn’t actually eligible,’” Burns said.
“I think that’s a good system, and it helps kind of clarify the election and it helps break it down considering there are so many votes and so many people in America,” said Mike Church, RIT sophomore. “But I do have to agree with them, that when looking at the numbers, if one side's more that should probably be the final decider.”
RIT junior Ashley Kosak also wants to see popular vote take over because she feels it would represent the people’s choice better. However, she admits it wouldn’t be easy. Only a constitutional amendment could abolish the Electoral College.
“I think that there will be a lot of blowback if it does happen,” Kosak said. “It’s not just something that’s going to be changing overnight. It’s going to be something that a lot of people have to be involved in. They have to show that they support it.”
Burns said while the Electoral College has its issues, changing it to a popular vote system would come with its own set of problems, especially with representing rural areas.
She said another possibility that could be considered is awarding electoral votes proportionally to the popular vote instead of having each state a winner-takes all.
“Because it’s winner take-all in a lot of the states, except for Maine and Nebraska, than it really means that once you win a state you get a huge chunk of electoral college votes,” Burns said. “So if you made it proportional that would even things out a lot.”
While not likely, Burns said electors could still change their vote on Dec. 19 when they vote for president. She said this has only happened eight times in the last 115 years.