The Electoral College: What Is It and Why Does It Matter?

By: Mike Maharrey

The Electoral College has become a hotly contested issue in American politics with a strong and vocal movement to do away with the institution and instead select the president based on whoever receives the most total votes.

In this presentation I gave for Empower U, I explain what the electoral college is, chronicle how the framers of the Constitution came up with this method of selecting the president and how it fits more broadly with the American Constitutional system. I also explain why changing presidential elections to a popular vote would fundamentally alter that system.