Electoral vote doesn’t change results of popular vote

I pretty much have given up explaining things to Trump voters. I tossed a coin and lost, so here goes (regarding the June 1 letter to the editor, “Trump won electoral vote — end of story,” June 1): On Election Day everyone in all 50 states votes. Sometimes it takes a few days or weeks to complete the tally of all votes. Each state has electoral votes.

Weeks after Election Day, a group of people called the Electoral College elect the president. Each state is assigned a number of electoral votes, based on the size of its population. The 538 electoral voters are chosen by the political parties of each state. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to become president. If no candidate gets a majority of electoral votes, members of the House of Representatives choose the president. In 48 states, the winner of the popular vote (the votes cast by the citizens) gets all the states electoral votes. In Maine and Nebraska, the electoral votes can be split between the candidates.

The letter writer’s “theory” that Trump won because he “won 30 out of 50 states” is incorrect. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote not Donald Trump. She had the most votes cast for a candidate. Trump won the Electoral College vote. He won the states with the most electoral votes. Therefore Trump was elected president. No one changed the rules. Your understanding of the rules is incorrect.

Carla Klosterman

Mountlake Terrace