Can the electorial college override the majority of the vote? if so, why?

Question

Can the electorial college override the majority of the vote? if so, why?

Answer 1

Yes. It is possible for the winner of an election to get as little as 39% of the vote, and carry the electoral college. This happens when the winner wins by only a handful of votes in states he or she wins, and losing completely in all other states.

This is caused by the lack of proportional voting in states. A states electoral votes, with exceptions of Maine and Nebraska, either go all to one candidate or the other. If half the state votes one way, and half the other, the smaller half is effectively not counted. With proportional voting, or district-level voting, this remains true, but it can only affect one vote per state, and is as likely to fall one way as the other.

I hope this answered your question.

Answer 2

Yes. Look at the 2000 election and also another election, but I forget the year.