When we vote in local elections, we vote directly for our local and state representatives – one man, one vote. But for the most powerful office in the country, President of the United States, that rule does not apply. He is elected by the electoral college, winning the majority of American votes does not count. Chris Hayes explains why the weirdest thing about the Electoral College is that if it wasn’t specifically in the Constitution, it would be unconstitutional.

“If you run for sheriff or mayor or governor or senator, you win if you get the most votes. That’s it. That’s the principle,” Hayes noted. “There is one exception, president of the United States.”

“Now, there are all kinds of people who will tell you this is good for all sorts of reasons — and they’re all wrong,” he argued.

“And that brings us back to Dan Crenshaw, who says that the nature of American constitutional government is because we are a republic, not a democracy, the 51% can’t boss around the 49%. But what he and his party are advocating is a world in which the 49% boss around the 51%,” Hayes said, to massive applause.

“And that is both anti-democratic and perverse. America is a democracy, and if one person, one vote means anything at all, it’s time to do something totally radical, and that is this. Run the presidential election the way we run every other election. The person with the most votes wins,” Hayes concluded.