What Does popular vote Mean
The etymology of the term vote leads us to votum , a word that belongs to the Latin language. Voting is the manifestation that an individual makes about his predilection for a certain alternative. The concept is also used to name the element that allows the expression of the preference in question.
Popular , for its part, is that which is linked to the people . Usually this adjective is used to describe what is available to all people , including those who are part of the lowest strata of society due to lack of economic resources, education, etc.
With these ideas clear, we can move forward in defining the popular vote . This expression is used to name the mechanism that allows citizen participation in political decision-making . The inhabitants of a region, through their vote in elections, have the possibility of electing their representatives: that is, the subjects who will be part of the government and who will administer the State in accordance with the provisions of the law.
The popular vote refers to the scope of this possibility of participation. In ancient times, it was common for only people who had certain assets or who had a certain level of education to vote. In these cases, the vote was restricted or census . On the other hand, when a large section of the population (for example, women and men over 18 years of age , regardless of their education and economic situation) can vote, it is a popular vote election.
Right now the popular vote term is more topical than ever due to the President of the United States, Donald Trump. Specifically, he has not hesitated to affirm, without presenting evidence of any kind, that if he did not win in popular votes it was because many undocumented people proceeded to vote for Hillary Clinton. Thus, he has stated that he estimates that between 3 and 5 million individuals voted illegally for the other candidate.
And we cannot forget that in the United States there is a peculiar system of election of the president based on the following pillars:
-Citizens are in charge of carrying out what the popular votes are.
-The winner of these aforementioned votes in a specific state is named, as a general rule, the absolute winner by the voters of the territory in question.
-And then there is what is known as the Electoral College, which is made up of a total of 583 voters, which is the number that corresponds to the legislators that Congress has: 435 in the House of Representatives, 100 in the Senate and three by Columbia.
- Hence, from all the above, it is established that for a candidate to be named the winner of the elections and, therefore, proclaim himself President of the United States, he must obtain, at least, the votes of 270 voters.
This system does not convince many, since there has been the case of candidates who have won in what are popular votes, but who later have not reached the White House because their rivals win in voters' votes.