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# The Electoral College: WHY!?
- URL: https://ivn.us/reconsider-media-electoral-college/
- Published: 2017-05-17T11:00:12.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-22T19:57:54.000Z
- Author: ReConsider Media
- Tags: News

But seriously, why on earth do we have the Electoral College? Something about having to travel in carriages?

It's a question a lot of people are asking after an election with a pretty big gap between the popular vote and the outcome.

So why on earth does it exist? What's the point? Is it fulfilling its purpose? What alternatives are there, and how would we get to them?

Learn all this and more, including why you don't kill your admirals, on today's episode!

## Sources

- CNN, [Election results](http://edition.cnn.com/election/results/president?ref=ivn.us)
- FairVote, [Faithless electors](http://www.fairvote.org/faithless%5Felectors?ref=ivn.us)
- [Federalist No 68](https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/The+Federalist+Papers?ref=ivn.us#TheFederalistPapers-68)
- [Federalist No. 10](https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/The+Federalist+Papers?ref=ivn.us#TheFederalistPapers-10)
- Tocqueville, [*Democracy in America*, vol 1, chapter 25](http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/detoc/1%5Fch15.htm?ref=ivn.us).
- [Article 5, U.S. Constitution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article%5FFive%5Fof%5Fthe%5FUnited%5FStates%5FConstitution?ref=ivn.us)
- [Two electors voting against Clinton, Trump ](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/electoral-college-effort-stop-trump-231350?ref=ivn.us)
- The Guardian, [*Teen becomes seventh 'faithless elector' to protest Trump as president-elect*](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/30/faithless-electors-electoral-college-donald-trump?ref=ivn.us)
- [Fact Check: Could the Electoral College Elect Clinton?](http://www.factcheck.org/2016/11/could-electoral-college-elect-clinton/?ref=ivn.us)

View [ReConsider on Patreon](http://patreon.com/reconsider?ref=ivn.us).

> “Politics, but we don’t do the thinking for you.”

ReConsider, by Xander Snyder and Erik Fogg, is a twice per month podcast in which we take on, in-depth, one pressing political issue facing western Democracies with a fresh, researched, and challenging perspective. We help listeners see the full context behind the issue and make up their own minds.

*ReConsider Media is a syndicate of [IVN.us](https://ivn.us/). This podcast was originally published on [ReConsider Media](http://www.reconsidermedia.com/podcast?ref=ivn.us) December 15, 2016.*