How familiar are you with the Electoral College?

The United States’ founding fathers established it as a compromise between electing the President by a vote in Congress and the election of a President through a popular vote.

Philip Harold, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Robert Morris said that the current system is an ingenious way to elect a President.

According to the Federal Elections Commission, every state is allocated a certain number of electors equal to the number of senators and representatives it has. Typically, whatever candidate receives the most popular votes wins all of the electoral votes from a particular state. Out of the 538 Electoral College votes available, a candidate must receive 270 Electoral College votes in order to win the presidency.

However, the current system is not without controversies. Supporters of the Electoral College said that it forces presidential hopefuls to pay more attention to less-populated states that they otherwise might ignore. Some believe that it is unfair because the winner of the popular vote might lose the Electoral College vote, causing them to lose the election.