text: One of the things that is wired throughout all three sources, is that electoral votes basicallly overpower the votes of the average citizen. When the average citizen does vote, however, their vote does not go toward the president. Their vote goes to the Electoral College, who then vote for the president. "[...] it is entirely possible that the winner of the electoral vote will not win the national popular vote" (Posner 16). According to an article (that supports the Electoral College), the winner of an election can win without owning the popular votes of an entire nation. Basically, all that a candidate even needs is the majority votes of the Electoral College in order to win an election. "[...] according to a Gallup pole in 2000, taken shortly after Al Gore - thanks to the quirks of the electoral college - won the popular vote but lost the presidency[...]" (Plumer 9). Collecting the votes of the Electoral College is the only concern of a candidate - therefore the only reason that candidates speak to the people is to influence them to cast votes for the Electoral College, which then cast votes for that candidate. "[...] Obama received 61.7 percent of the electoral vote compared to only 51.3 percent of the popular votes [...]" (Posner 18). It's as if the people are just physical steps that electoral voters use to get to the person that the Electoral college wants to be the president of the U.S.