We do not directly vote for the President of the United States. Instead, we have created a unique system that only our country uses called the Electoral College. The Electoral College is made up of Electorates that determine the outcome of the Presidential Election. In order to win the Presidency, and the highest seat of office in the United States, you need 270 people. 270 people that no one elects; Yet ironically enough are called Electorates. 270 people that have, arguably, the most important job in the entire country. 270 people, of the ~300 million people in this country, determine the outcome of our future. This is the problem with the Electoral College. 

The Electoral College currently has 538 electors split between the 50 states of the Union. Each state has the same number of Electors as they do members of congress. In other words, each state is guaranteed two, then gain more depending on the population of a state. Electors are chosen by the political party of a presidential candidate. Electors are allowed to vote however they may so choose, for whichever candidate. Generally speaking, they do not tend to do that. Most states have a “First Past The Post” system, meaning that they delegate their votes based on who wins most of the popular vote in that state. Some states do a proportional delegation vote, meaning that they have their electors case their votes based on the proportions of the popular vote. To simplify all this, First Past The Post states are all or nothing and proportional states divide it based on the popular vote. 

The Electoral system is rather redundant though. There is no real need to have Electors and no other country in the world uses a system like this. Most European democracies just use the popular vote to determine the election. The United Kingdom and Canada use First Past The Post systems. This also introduces another issue of disproportional voting power between state populations. A state with a smaller population has a lot more voting power than a state with a large population. 

Finally, the Electorate gives some people the impression that they have no role in government—that their vote means absolutely nothing. This within itself is a problem because of voter turnout (the percentage of people that go out and vote). Voter turnout needs to be high for our democracy to function properly and that requires the people voting to have confidence in their system. With the Electoral College, people do not have confidence in their system.