The above post on Instagram.com suggests your vote doesn’t matter because unknown “political figures” in the Electoral College gave their electoral votes to President-elect Donald Trump.
The electors are not nameless individuals conspiring to elect whomever they want. They are chosen based on your state senators and representatives in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress.
Unlike in local elections, Americans do not directly elect the president or vice president. Instead, a 2-step process is necessary to prevent voter fraud on a massive scale.
The Electoral College is simply the 2nd step of the 2-step process to elect a president and vice president after the people have spoken.
Every state is represented by 2 senators and a number of representatives (congressmen or congresswomen) based on your state’s population.
Each state gets to choose electors equal to the number of senators and representatives who reside in that state.
Under most state’s winner-take-all system the candidate who wins the state gets all the electoral votes for that state.
The map shows the Democratic states in blue, and the Republican states in red. Clinton won the blue states, Trump won the red states.
In order for Clinton to be elected president on Dec. 19, at least 21 electors in one or more of the red states (won by Trump) would have to defy their state by giving their electoral votes to Clinton.
Theoretically, that would leave Trump with less than the 270 electoral votes necessary to be elected president.