A Senator Is Trying To Get Rid Of The Electoral College (But It Probably Won't Happen)

John Minchillo / AP

With Hillary Clinton having amassed hundreds of thousands more votes than President-elect Donald Trump nationally, Sen. Barbara Boxer on Tuesday called for abolishing the Electoral College and moving the country's presidential elections to a popular vote.

The California Democrat, who is retiring this year, announced she would introduce a bill to end the electoral college during Tuesday's Senate session.

"In 2012, Donald Trump tweeted, 'The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy,'" Boxer said in a statement. "I couldn't agree more. One person, one vote!"

On Tuesday, after his win, Trump tweeted that he had changed his mind and he now believed the Electoral College was "actually genius" because "it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play."

With a number of ballots still to be counted in Boxer's reliably Democrat home state, Clinton had a healthy lead over Trump . As of Tuesday afternoon, she had amassed 61,324,576 votes to Trump's 60,526,852, according to the Associated Press.

"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," Sen. Boxer said. "This is the only office in the land where you can get more votes and still lose the presidency."

Since Trump's election, various online petitions to end the Electoral College have garnered hundreds of thousands of signatures, but Boxer's bill is not expected to advance in the now-Republican controlled Congress.

Even if the bill were to find support, abolishing the electoral college would require amending the Constitution. To do that some three-quarters of US states would need to approve of the change, something which could be blocked easily by a small coalition of swing states or states with small populations that would lose influence under a popular vote system.

Gallup / Via gallup.com

Generally, Americans support getting rid of the Electoral College, according to a 2013 Gallup poll, which found 63% of adults said they would support abolishing it. Democrats are slightly more in favor of ending the system than Republicans, with Americans under 30 being the most supportive of its abolition.

"The Electoral College is an outdated, undemocratic system that does not reflect our modern society, and it needs to change immediately," Boxer said. "Every American should be guaranteed that their vote counts."

LINK: Donald Trump Has Changed His Mind About The Electoral College, OK?

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