Nov/Dec, 2016 - For only the 5th time in our nation's history, the winner of the popular vote for President will not be inaugurated as the country's next President. At this point in the vote-counting process {which now has been completed, as of late December}, Hillary Clinton has outpolled Donald Trump by 2,865,000 votes nationwide (65,845,000 to 62,980,000), which equates to more than a two percentage point margin of victory (48.04% to 45.95%).

Unfortunately, though, Mr. Trump won enough electoral votes on a state by state basis to win the Presidency.

(Hillary Clinton)

Democrats now have won the popular vote in six of the last seven Presidential elections, but only have won the Presidency on four of those occasions. In addition to Mrs. Clinton's race, Al Gore won the popular vote over George W. Bush in 2000 by 500k votes, but lost the election 271 to 267 votes in the Electoral College.

Some have argued that it might finally be time to drop this antiquated means of electing a President and transition to a system based on the popular vote of the Citizens. We recently heard Lawrence O'Donnell discuss the fact that Alexander Hamilton, one of the original architects of the Electoral College, also had become disenchanted with the Electoral College and subsequently tried to eliminate it, albeit unsuccessfully.

We are more concerned that the Electoral College has failed in performing what the framers of our Constitution intended it to do: deliberate and, should an unqualified Citizen and/or a demagogue win the popular vote, reject that candidate and elect a more qualified candidate. Instead, it has become a rubber stamp for the popular vote winner within each state.

Congressional Results

In the U.S. Senatorial elections, Democrats picked up two seats, one in Illinois and one in New Hampshire. Republicans, however, retain control of that chamber by a 52-48 margin, following the GOP win in Louisiana's December run-off election.

On the House of Representatives side of Congress, the Democrats gained five seats but the GOP maintains control of the House, probably by a 241 to 194 margin. We are anxious to find out the result of the total House vote count on a nationwide basis, however. Here's why:

In 2012, for example, the Democrats won a million more total House votes than the GOP, but the GOP won a majority of the House seats. This was due to the gerrymandering of Congressional districts the GOP implemented following the 2010 census, a practice we believe is unconstitutional and needs to be addressed. (See our story, "Gerrymandering Lincoln" for a more detailed take on this subject.) Could 2016 see a similar result? At the very least, the Dems total vote percentage is sure to exceed their percentage of House seats won.

Gubernatorial Results

In other races across the country, the Democrats won the Governorships in three states that voted for Mr. Trump. Two states that Mr. Trump won by large margins, Montana and West Virginia, saw Steve Bullock re-elected and Jim Justice elected as Governor. Bullock defeated his GOP opponent by a 50% to 46% margin and Justice was elected by a 49% to 42% margin.

In the third state, North Carolina, Democrat Roy Cooper was declared the winner over Republican incumbent Pat McCrory by a mere 10k votes out of 4.6m votes cast. While Governor McCrory has questioned some of the votes and may pursue a re-count, local Republican elections officials have not agreed with the Governor's claims.

Ballot Initiatives

Some of the ballot initiatives making news on election night included the following:

By a vote of 59% to 41%, the people of Arizona have agreed to raise the state's minimum wage to $10/hour in 2017 and $12/hour by 2020. Colorado and Maine also voted for a $12 minimum wage by 2020, both by almost identical 55% to 45% spreads. The minimum wage in the state of Washington will reach $13.50 by 2020, along with a requirement that employers provide paid sick leave. Washingtonians agreed to these proposals by a 58%-42% margin.

California, Nevada, Massachusetts, and Maine voted to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, joining Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska, who passed similar measures in 2012 and 2014. The Maine vote was close enough that opponents of the measure are pushing for a recount, even though performing a recount will cost the Maine taxpayer ~$500k. Citizens in the other three states voted in favor by 8 - 12 point margins. For what it is worth, seven of the eight states that now have legalized recreational marijuana have tended to vote Democratic in recent years, while only Alaska leans Republican.

Three other states, Florida, Arkansas, and North Dakota passed measures to legalize medicinal marijuana.

In South Dakota, by a 52% to 48% margin, voters approved a ballot measure that will initiate public financing of campaigns, expand disclosure of political donors, and create an ethics commission to police legislators' behavior. This proposal was the result of a recent study questioning the transparency of government in South Dakota. It is not surprising that the billionaire Koch brothers' front group, Americans for Prosperity, lobbied heavily against the initiative.

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