Newsmax
Reid Urges Lawmakers to Hold 'Hearings' on Electoral College
Wednesday, November 16, 2016 04:45 PM
By: Jason Devaney
Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday he wouldn't rule out wanting to see the Electoral College changed in the wake of Democrat Hillary Clinton's defeat in the presidential election.
With nearly all the votes counted, Clinton leads the popular vote even though Republican Donald Trump won the election. Reid wants to see a discussion opened about the system that has elected every U.S. president in history.
"I think it would be educational for the country to have some hearings on the Electoral College," Reid said, according to The Hill. "I think that's something we should look at."
Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, who is also retiring at the end of this year, introduced a bill Wednesday that would abolish the Electoral College.
"In my lifetime, I have seen two elections where the winner of the general election did not win the popular vote," said Boxer, who supported Clinton for president. She was referring to the elections in 2000 and 2016.
"When all the ballots are counted, Hillary Clinton will have won the popular vote by a margin that could exceed two million votes, and she is on track to have received more votes than any other presidential candidate in history except Barack Obama."
Some Democrats are blaming the Electoral College for Clinton's loss. That group includes former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, who lost the 1988 presidential election — via the popular vote and the Electoral College — to George H.W. Bush.
http://www.newsmax.com/PrintTemplate.aspx/?nodeid=759279
