Five times in U.S. history, the presidential candidate who won the national popular vote did not win the White House -- including two of the last five elections. Those losses have spurred a national movement to change the way elections are won.
Since Democrat Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 race, with nearly 3 million more votes than Donald Trump, a number of states have passed laws to award their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. Fifteen states and Washington, D.C., have so far enacted such laws.
It's a movement that's been growing since 2006, when the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact -- a non-profit with the goal of enacting a system to elect the popular vote winner -- formed to persuade states to join.
The 15 joined states and Washington, D.C., bring a combined total of 196 electoral votes -- meaning the movement needs to sign up states with just 74 more to give the compact legal force.
So the Electoral College wouldn't be eliminated. This pact would simply change how a state's electoral votes would be cast.
Example: even if Donald Trump won Wisconsin, since Hillary had the highest vote total nationwide, Wisconsin would give its' Electoral College votes to Hillary.
One downside of this: little states that have few electoral votes would get even less attention from candidates than they do now. States with large populations and voter counts would get even more attention than they do now.
Biggest upside of this: simplicity. Most votes = winner. Period. Little states be damned.
Grace & Peace & Love to you all -
Matt