I’ve often wondered how the Electoral College votes would match up with the popular vote if Electoral College votes were apportioned by the percentage of people who voted for each candidate.
With this method North Dakota’s three votes would have been split two for Trump and one for Biden since the popular vote was 65.1% for Trump and 31.8% for Biden. Likewise, California’s 55 votes with a popular vote of 63.5% for Biden and 34.3% for Trump would have been split 35 for Biden and 20 for trump.
I did the math for all 50 states and what I found was that it would have still given President Biden a victory; however he would have won only 273 electoral votes to Trump’s 265.
That is 50.7%. This compares more favorably with the popular vote, which was only 0.6% more than that with 51.3%.
The actual electoral vote was 56.9% for Biden.
ADVERTISEMENT
If we went to a percentage apportionment system, those of us who live in states where we feel our vote is wasted because the state is bright red or blue, could feel that our vote could make a difference. The Electoral College votes would also more closely reflect the will of the people.
Lee Murdock, Grand Forks
