Hillary Clinton, Al Gore or Mitt Romney could easily have been president depending on how ballots are counted. Primary voters and candidates complained about various state-by-state rules that created different outcomes, raising claims “rigged” schemes. Our elections can be complicated (to say the least). We explored what would happen under different electoral systems — and found that adjusted rules could have changed the outcome in more than half of the presidential elections since 2000.

Current U.S. system for picking the president Complicated and unequal You’ve probably never met a presidential elector – the people who voted Dec. 19 to pick the president of the United States. There are only 538 of them for a country of almost 325 million people. That's because the white guys who wrote the rules (the Constitution and amendments) did not trust regular people and wanted to give slave-holding states more votes without letting blacks vote. So they created “indirect” elections, where voters get to pick some people, and then those people get to vote for president. The system is further complicated because a voter in a small state gets more say in picking electors than a voter in a big state. And states have different rules. Almost all states assign their electoral votes as winner-take-all, but Maine and Nebraska award electors by congressional districts. And a lurking mystery is whether electors really have to do what voters in the state said, anyway. Most states have laws “binding” the delegates, but legal scholars have debated whether the electors could still go rogue and vote their conscience. These are the states each candidate won weighted using electoral votes. 2000 One of the delegates from the District of Columbia abstained. 270 to win 266 271 George W. Bush Al Gore 2004 270 to win 252 286 John Kerry George W. Bush 2008 Obama got one of Nebraska’s districts 270 to win 365 173 Barack Obama John McCain 2012 270 to win 332 206 Barack Obama Mitt Romney 2016 270 to win 227 304 Hillary Clinton Donald Trump ... creating these results. These are the states each candidate won .... ... which won this many electoral votes ... 2000 266 Al Gore 271 George W. Bush One of the delegates from the District of Columbia abstained. 2004 252 John Kerry 286 George W. Bush 2008 Obama got one of Nebraska’s districts 365 Barack Obama 173 John McCain 2012 332 Barack Obama 206 Mitt Romney Four Washington electors voted for someone other than Clinton 2016 227 Hillary Clinton 304 Donald Trump These are the states each candidate won .... 2016 Wash. Maine Trump picked the electoral vote from Maine’s second district. Mont. N.D. Minn. Ore. Idaho Wis. S.D. N.Y. Wyo. Mich. Pa. Iowa Nev. Neb. Ohio Ind. Ill. Utah Colo. Va. Calif. Kan. Mo. Ky. N.C. Tenn. Ariz. Okla. Ark. S.C. N.M. Miss. Ala. Ga. La. Donald Trump carried six states that voted for Obama in 2012. Texas Alaska Hawaii Fla. 2000 2004 2008 2012 ... which won this many electoral votes ... A democratic elector tried to vote for Bernie Sanders, but state officials ruled that the vote was improper and ordered a revote. The elector voted then for Hillary Clinton. Four Washington electors voted for someone other than Clinton. Colin Powell got three votes. Teh other was for Faith Spotted Eagle. N.Y. Mass. Wis. Mich. R.I. Conn. Wash. Pa. Ore. Minn. Ohio Neb. Ill. Nev. N.J. Ind. W.Va. Iowa Colo. Utah Ky. Md. Kan. Calif. Ariz. Mo. N.M. Tenn. Va. Ark. N.C. Texas Ala. Miss. Ga. Two electors in Texas voted for John Kasich and Ron Paul. La. S.C. Bernie Sanders received one vote in Hawaii. Fla. 270 to win 227 304 Hillary Clinton Donald Trump 2000 2004 2008 2012 Obama got one of Nebraska’s districts One of the delegates from the District of Columbia abstained. 270 to win 270 to win 270 to win 270 to win 266 271 252 286 365 173 332 206 Al Gore George W. Bush John Kerry George W. Bush Barack Obama John McCain Barack Obama Mitt Romney

Popular vote President Gore and other drastic changes The simplest system could yield some of the greatest change in American politics. Direct election by pure vote total would have made Hillary Clinton and Al Gore presidents in 2000 and 2016. Under that system, campaigns would most likely focus on the densest collection of votes – big cities and their suburbs. Rural areas and small cities may be ignored. Candidates have won the popular vote but lost the election five times. Clinton won this year by more than 2.8 million votes, according to Dave Leip's collection of certified state results. 2000 CHANGE Al Gore 50,996,582 votes 50,456,062 George W. Bush Gore Bush 2004 John Kerry 57,355,978 60,693,281 George W. Bush Kerry Bush 2008 Barack Obama 69,297,997 59,597,520 John McCain Obama McCain 2012 Barack Obama 65,444,241 60,587,978 Mitt Romney Obama Romney 2016 Hillary Clinton 65,844,610 62,979,636 Donald Trump Clinton Trump 2000 2004 CHANGE Al Gore John Kerry 50,996,582 votes 57,355,978 50,456,062 60,693,281 George W. Bush George W. Bush Gore Bush Kerry Bush 2008 2012 Barack Obama Barack Obama 69,297,997 65,444,241 59,597,520 60,587,978 John McCain Mitt Romney Obama Obama Romney McCain 2016 CHANGE Hillary Clinton 65,844,610 Donald Trump 62,979,636 Clinton Trump 2016 CHANGE Hillary Clinton 65,844,610 votes Donald Trump 62,979,636 Clinton Trump 2000 2004 2008 2012 CHANGE Al Gore John Kerry Barack Obama Barack Obama 50,996,582 votes 57,355,978 69,297,997 65,444,241 50,456,062 60,693,281 59,597,520 60,587,978 George W. Bush George W. Bush John McCain Mitt Romney Gore Bush Obama Obama Bush Kerry McCain Romney

Proportional by state Drop winner-take-all and learn to share Another seemingly simple concept, used in many states for the presidential primaries, is to assign electors according to the share of votes each candidate got. As with pure popular vote, this would encourage candidates to pursue votes in every state, not just those they can win outright. Proportional results are less decisive than winner-take-all so there’s less chance of a clear winner with a mandate to lead. In both 2000 and 2016, no candidate would have won a majority, so some combination of parties would have to form a coalition to get 270 electoral votes, or the country could have a do-over election. 2000 AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KY KS ME MD MA MI MN LA MT NJ NV NH MS NE NM MO NC ND NY OH OK OR RI SC SD TN PA TX UT VT VA WA WV WY WI CHANGE 50% Gore Bush Nader 262 263 13 Bush would get one electoral vote more than Gore, but a coalition would be needed to get over 50 percent of the vote. 2004 50% 600 Nader Kerry Bush 1 259 278 Nader would have picked up his only vote from New York. 2008 50% 100 200 300 400 500 Obama McCain 287 251 No third-party candidate would have earned a single electoral vote. 2012 50% 600 Johnson Romney Obama 2 258 278 Gary Johnson would have received electoral votes in California and Texas. 2016 CHANGE 50% Clinton Johnson McMullin Trump 268 2 1 267 Clinton would be the candidate with more votes, but a coalition with Johnson would be needed to get over 50 percent of the vote. Trump would need to get together with both Johnson and McMullin to reach a majority. 2000 2004 CHANGE AL AK AZ AR CA AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KY HI ID KS IL IN IA KY KS ME MD MA MI MN LA ME MD MA MI MN LA MT NJ NV NH MS NE NM MO MT NJ NV NH MS NE NM MO NC ND NY OH NC ND NY OH OK OR RI SC SD TN PA OK OR RI SC SD TN PA TX UT VT VA WA TX UT VT VA WA WV WY WI WV WY WI 50% 50% Kerry Bush Gore Nader Nader Bush 259 278 262 13 1 263 Bush would get one electoral vote more than Gore, but a coalition would be needed to get over 50 percent of the vote. Nader would have picked up his only vote from New York. 2008 2012 AL AK AZ AR CA AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KY KS HI ID IL IN IA KY KS ME MD MA MI MN LA ME MD MA MI MN LA MT NJ NV NH MS NE NM MO MT NJ NV NH MS NE NM MO NC ND NY OH NC ND NY OH OK OR RI SC SD TN PA OK OR RI SC SD TN PA TX UT VT VA WA TX UT VT VA WA WV WY WI WV WY WI 50% 50% Obama McCain Obama Romney Johnson 287 251 278 258 2 No third-party candidate would have earned a single electoral vote. Gary Johnson would have received electoral votes in California and Texas. 2016 CHANGE CO CT DC AL AZ AR CA DE FL AK ID HI GA IL KY IA KS IN LA ME MD MA NH MI MN NJ NE NM MO MT MS NV NY NC OH ND OK OR SC RI SD TN PA WV TX VT WY VA WA WI UT 50% Clinton Johnson McMullin Trump 268 2 1 267 Clinton would be the candidate with more votes, but a coalition with Johnson would be needed to get over 50 percent of the vote. Trump would need to get together with both Johnson and McMullin to reach a majority. 2016 CHANGE ID HI CO CT DC GA AL AZ AR CA DE FL AK IL KY IA KS IN LA ME NH NC MD MA MI MN NJ OH NE NM MO MT ND MS NV NY OK OR WV SC RI TX SD VT WY VA WA WI TN PA UT 50% Clinton Johnson McMullin Trump 268 2 1 267 Clinton would be the candidate with more votes, but a coalition with Johnson would be needed to get over 50 percent of the vote. Trump would need to get together with both Johnson and McMullin to reach a majority. CHANGE 2000 2004 2008 2012 AL AK AZ AR CA AL AK AZ AR CA AL AK AZ AR CA AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA CO CT DE DC FL GA CO CT DE DC FL GA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID HI ID HI ID HI ID IL IN IA IL IN IA IL IN IA IL IN IA KY KY KY KY KS KS KS KS ME MD MA MI MN ME MD MA MI MN ME MD MA MI MN ME MD MA MI MN LA LA LA LA MT NJ MT NJ MT NJ MT NJ NV NH NV NH NV NH NV NH MS NE NM MS NE NM MS NE NM MS NE NM MO MO MO MO NC NC NC NC ND ND ND ND NY OH NY OH NY OH NY OH OK OR RI SC OK OR RI SC OK OR RI SC OK OR RI SC SD TN SD TN SD TN SD TN PA PA PA PA TX UT VT TX UT VT TX UT VT TX UT VT VA WA VA WA VA WA VA WA WV WV WV WV WY WY WY WY WI WI WI WI 50% 50% 50% 50% Obama McCain Gore Nader Kerry Nader Bush Bush Johnson Romney Obama 287 251 262 259 1 278 13 2 258 263 278 Bush would get one electoral vote more than Gore, but a coalition would be needed to get over 50 percent of the vote. Nader would have picked up his only vote from New York. No third-party candidate would have earned a single electoral vote. Gary Johnson would have received electoral votes in California and Texas.

Parliamentary democracy Romney is president, using the speaker of the House system Data for congressional-district-level results of the 2016 presidential election are not yet available. Countries like Britain have voters in every district choose a party, and the party that wins the most districts gets to pick the top leader, which they call the prime minister. That’s very similar to picking U.S. House representatives, who then pick the speaker of the House. This system has the advantage of giving voters everywhere relatively equal weight in picking the leader. Because Republican state legislatures effectively redrew congressional district lines after the 2010 census, Democrats got more votes for Congress in 2012 but Republicans won 33 more seats. These maps show which presidential candidate won each congressional district (special results created by Polidata). Using this system, Romney would have won. 2000 50% 240 195 Gore Bush 2004 50% 256 179 Kerry Bush 2008 50% 242 193 Obama McCain 2012 CHANGE 50% 209 226 Obama Romney 2000 2004 50% 50% 256 195 240 179 Bush Bush Gore Kerry 2012 2008 CHANGE 50% 50% 226 209 193 242 Obama Romney Obama McCain 2012 2000 2004 2008 CHANGE 50% 50% 50% 50% 195 240 179 256 242 193 209 226 Bush Gore Kerry Bush Obama McCain Obama Romney