Electoral College: somewhat easy to explain, difficult to understand, impossible to change.For many, the Electoral College is a stain on American elections. It is needlessly complicated, somewhat convoluted, and sometimes allows the candidate who didn't win the popular vote to become president anyway. Breaks down alternatives to the Electoral College.Political scientist Paul Gilbert takes a deeper look at if it is even possible to change the Electoral College, or if the whole system should be abandoned. Gilbert analysis one of the biggest alternatives to the Electoral College: awarding electoral votes based on congressional districts, not a state's overall popular vote. Gilbert applies this method to previous elections, and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of implementing this method. While many like to propose different changes to the current system, Gilbert shows by retroactively applying one of the most popular alterations to the Electoral College to previous elections.

By applying to previous elections, Gilbert shows how the Electoral College, no matter what changes are made, will never guarantee the winner of the popular vote will win the election. The current version of the Electoral College is the best version of it.Gilbert argues that the changes that some would make to the electoral college would actually do more harm than good. Does that mean we keep the Electoral College the way it is? Or should we replace it with a direct popular vote? While Gilbert leaves that decision up for debate, he argues that the decision should be between keeping the Electoral College, or dumping it completely for a direct popular vote.