Voters in the US don’t directly elect the president. Sometimes that can undermine the popular will

Associated Press

To voters in many other democracies, the process of electing a president in the U.S. is a head-scratcher. That was certainly true in 2016, when Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million over Donald Trump. That didn’t matter. Trump won more votes in the Electoral College and became president. Voters actually select electors when they cast their presidential ballot, and each state gets a number of those equal to its representation in the U.S. House and Senate. That dynamic forces presidential campaigns to tailor their visits, messaging and spending to the handful of states that are considered toss-ups. There are seven of those this year, leaving most of the country on the sidelines.