Ellis: How the U.S. was saddled with the Electoral College

In 2016 and 2020 Donald Trump lost the popular election by several million votes. But in 2016 he won in the Electoral College with slim majorities in several toss-up states. That is the only way he can win the looming election, a contest all the polls show is too close to call. Once again, it is entirely possible that we will elect a president whom a majority of American voters reject.

The rest of the world finds this arrangement incomprehensible. Although the process varies in the details elsewhere...