For the 4th time in 45 elections the United States has seen, the winner of the election for the highest seat of this country has lost. "How is this possible?" you may ask. Well, you have the Electoral College of the United States to thank for this 7% rate of failure.

For those who are unaware of how the Electoral College works or why it ever came into existence, here is some background knowledge:

How the Electoral College Works

To start, the Electoral College is a system where the people do not directly vote for a candidate, instead selecting "Electors" from each state, who generally give their vote to the candidate of which the state voted for.

There are 538 total electoral votes available for the states. Each state is given a minimum of three votes, with the remaining being split between states based on population.

During election time, a state will give all of its electoral votes to the candidate that their state voted for. For instance, in my state of Wisconsin, if 50.1% of the people in Wisconsin vote for a candidate, all 10 electoral votes my state has will go to that candidate.

Why the Electoral College was Created

In 1787, the world looked a lot different than it does today. The biggest difference between then and now pertaining to the issue of the Electoral College is the speed at which information moves. Back then, if you cast your ballot, it could take weeks to reach D.C., and many things could go wrong in between the time of casting your ballot and the time the ballot arrives, meaning that your vote may be dangerous if something did change. For example, let's say you vote for a candidate who seems good, but two days after casting your ballot - before your ballot arrives in D.C. - your candidate is found guilty of murder. Well, you no longer would want your vote to go to that candidate.

Enter the Electoral College; this system allows for an "Elector" to travel to D.C. and cast their ballot on behalf of the people the Elector represents factoring in the most up-to-date information available.

What's Wrong with the Electoral College

Fast-forward to now, where information travels almost at the speed of light, meaning that you now have access to the most up-to-date info as fast as anyone else. This means there is no longer a need for a system like the Electoral College... but that's not the real issue.

According to YouTuber CGP Grey's calculations, the Electoral College can be taken advantage of, allowing for the next President of the United States to be selected with just 22% of the popular vote.

This works by utilizing the fact that the Electoral College gives unfair advantages to people's votes in small states compared to large states due to the minimum of three electoral votes rule we talked about earlier. With the current system, a single Wyomingite's vote is worth approximately four Californians' votes, which is clearly not right and not democratic at all.

So, if you get all of the small states on your side, you have the votes with the most weight to them. Then, because you just need over 50% of the votes of each of those states, you can split the population of the state in half plus one extra vote, and you get all of those states' votes.

All of this leads to being able to get to the Presidency even when 78% of the population voted against you.

While this particular situation is unlikely to ever happen, the mere possibility of it is scary and shouldn't be possible in the first place. And because of the inaccuracies of the Electoral College, this system has failed the American people now four times, or 7% of all elections, including in the most recent one, meaning that the popular vote of the people was overridden by the incredibly skewed system of the Electoral College.

As CGP Grey said in his video on the issue, "would anyone tolerate a sport, where, by some quirk of the rules, there was a 7% chance that the loser would win? Not likely. Given how much more important electing the President of the United States is, that's a rather dangerously high percentage of the time to get it wrong."

It's time that we abolish the Electoral System and replace it with a fair popular vote system, where the true voice of the American people is heard.