Lawmaker files bill to abolish US Electoral College

By Esra Kaymak Avci

WASHINGTON (AA) - Democratic lawmaker Barbara Boxer filed legislation Tuesday to eliminate the Electoral College system from presidential voting after Hillary Clinton lost the election despite having more votes than Donald Trump.

"This is the only office in the land where you can get more votes and still lose the presidency," the retiring senator from California said in a statement on her official website.

The Electoral College is "an outdated, undemocratic system" and does not reflect modern American society, she said.

"It needs to change immediately. Every American should be guaranteed that their vote counts," she added.

Boxer's billwould require an amendment to the Constitution that would take effect if ratified by three-fourths of states within seven years after its passage in Congress.

According to Boxer, Clinton leads the popular count by nearly 1 million votes. If all the ballots are counted, Clinton could win the popular vote by more than twice that and more than 1.5 percentage points, according to the New York Times.

Clinton received 61.9 million votes and Trump received 60.9 million, according to the Cook Political Report national popular vote tracker.

But due to the winner take all system in the majority of the states, Trump won the majority of electors in the Electoral College system, surpassing the 270 needed of a total of 538 to become president.

It is the fifth time a candidate has won the popular vote but lost the presidency.

Trump will take the oath of office Jan. 20.