- Shall the bill pass?

- [Jennifer] Virginiais latest state to jump

on the popular vote bandwagonsweeping through blue states.

- [Woman] Ayes 51, nays 46.

- Getting rid of theelectoral college would

require a constitutional amendment.

In order to get around that states

like Virginia are considering the

Popular Vote Interstate Compact,

an agreement whereparticipating states give

their electoral votes to the winner

of the national popular vote,

even if it doesn't matchtheir state's popular vote.

15 states and the District of Columbia,

representing 196 electoral votes,

have already passed the measure,

all blue states thatvoted for Hillary Clinton

in the last presidential election.

In 2016, President Trumplost the popular vote by 2%

but won the electoral vote.

Just days after his surprise victory,

prominent liberalsstarted sounding the alarm

to change the rules.

- This has happened twice now since 2000.

Al Gore and now Hillary.

And it seems to be happening to one party

- Only us, only Democrats.

- Right which is, of course,the way they would want it.

You kind of can't blame them for that,

but how do we fix that?

- There's a simple solution to it.

We have to just abolishthe electoral college.

(audience applauding)

- [Jennifer] Our founding fathers,

however, chose the electoral college

as the constitutional systemof selecting a president.

It was a compromisebetween having Congress

and citizens chose the Commander-in-Chief.

- The founders came upwith a brilliant way

of saying every stateneeds to have a voice

and the people need a voice as well

and that's the electoral college.

- [Jennifer] Let's face it,it can be a bit confusing.

In fact, the National Archives begins

its explanation this way:

"The electoral college isa process, not a place."

That process consists of 538electors chosen by states.

Each state has the same number of electors

as its members of Congress.

To win the White House,a presidential candidate

must get at least 270 electoral votes.

Supporters say the systemprotects state interests

by forcing candidates to cater

to the diversity of the nation.

- A blue voter in Californiamay have different interests

from blue voters in Vermont.

- [Jennifer] In fact, undera popular vote system,

many experts predict rural Americans

would be left out altogether.

- If you just went to a popular vote,

there are 35,000 citiesin the United States.

20 cities have the majorityof the vote in America.

You could win a presidential campaign

by just spending your time in 20 cities,

who cares about the other 34,980 cities,

we're just gonna ignore them.

- [Jennifer] And thenthere's the possibility

of states being forcedto support a candidate

their people didn't want.

For instance, if the proposed popular vote

system had been in place for 2016,

all of Tennessee's 11electoral votes would have gone

to Clinton, even though 61% ofTennesseans voted for Trump.

Conversely, if Trump hadwon the popular vote,

a state like California that voted 62%

for Clinton would have togive its 55 electoral votes

to a Republican and thatcould spell trouble.

- You'd have insurrectionall over the United States.

I think you would havelikely riots in the streets,

you would have violence as a result.

- [Jennifer] Only five times in

history has a presidential candidate

lost the popular voteand won the White House.

Still, over the past 200 years,

more than 700 proposalshave been introduced

in Congress to eliminate orchange the electoral college.

None have succeeded.

Then, as now, many political scientists

think it's shortsighted.

- It's not really looking at the future,

it's looking at right here and right now

and that's a reckless thing.

- [Jennifer] The push for the popular

vote has also become much more partisan.

A 2012 Gallup Pollshoes 54% of Republicans

and 69% of Democrats were in favor

of changing it at the time.

Four years later, 19% of Republicans

and 81% of Democrats favored the change.

Reading the tea leaves of their base,

top Democrats BernieSanders, Elizabeth Warren,

and Pete Buttigieg all agree its time

to get rid of the electoral college.

Liberal darling Congresswoman

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls it a scam.

But amending theConstitution is a difficult

and slow process.

Instead of changing therules, some experts suggest

candidates consider changingtheir political strategy.

- There were a lot of states that flipped

from one party to another that people

thought were safe statesbecause of a specific candidate.

You would think that the answer is to try

to flip those states back, try to win back

those voters instead ofchanging the rules of the game.

- [Jennifer] Depending on whowins the White House in 2020,

calls to end the electoral college will

likely either die downor greatly escalate.

Jennifer Wishon, CBN News, Washington.