The Plot to Undermine the Electoral College

In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote for president by just under three million votes. But under the Constitution's electoral voting system, Clinton lost the election to Donald Trump by a decisive margin, with a final total of 304 to 227. Although this was only the fifth instance in United States history where the popular vote winner lost the electoral vote, it was notable because it was the second such occurrence in the last generation. In the 2000 election, Al Gore won the national popular vote by a little more than half a million votes, but famously lost the electoral vote after losing Florida's popular vote. Prior to 2000, the last time the popular vote winner lost the electoral vote was 1888, when Grover Cleveland secured just over 90,000 more votes than Benjamin Harrison, yet lost the electoral contest.