Hillary Clinton said Tuesday she is one of the 538 electors in the Electoral College.
“I’m an elector in New York,” the 2016 Democratic nominee told SiriusXM’s “Signal Boost.” “I’m sure I’ll get to vote for Joe (Biden) and (Sen. Kamala Harris) in New York. So, that’s pretty exciting.”
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Clinton has previously called for the abolition of the Electoral College, where electors directly vote on the president and vice president of the United States. She advocated for the president to be instead selected based on the US popular vote. Clinton won almost 2.9 million more votes than Donald Trump in 2016, but lost the election after Trump secured a majority of votes in the Electoral College.
When Americans cast their votes in presidential elections, they are not selecting the President directly. According to the system laid out by the US Constitution, Americans are voting for 538 electors, who meet in their respective states and vote for the President and Vice President. These electors comprise the Electoral College, and their votes are then counted by the President of the Senate in a joint session of Congress. Each state is in charge of selecting their own electors.
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There is an elector for every member of the US House of Representatives (435) and the US Senate (100), and an additional three for people who live in the District of Columbia. It takes 270 electoral votes to get a majority of the Electoral College and win the presidential election.
The former secretary of state told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in September 2017 that she believed the Electoral College needed to be eliminated, and said, “I’d like to see us move beyond it.”
Clinton had also called for an end to the Electoral College after the 2000 election, when former Vice President Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the presidency. Clinton told reporters at the time, “I believe strongly that in a democracy, we should respect the will of the people and to me, that means it’s time to do away with the Electoral College and move to the popular election of our president.”
Clinton told SiriusXM’s “Signal Boost” that she is worried there won’t be a final conclusion to the 2020 election, “for a couple of days, if not longer.”
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She said she had planned to vote early in-person for the upcoming election, but said the lines where she lives have been several hours long.
“I’m waiting for either a break in the line so I can vote early, or I’ll just, you know, take up a bag lunch and go stand in line and vote on Election Day, depending upon what I can get done,” Clinton said with a laugh.
CNN’s Zachary B. Wolf and Dan Merica contributed to this report.
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