Why US Elections Only Give You Two Choices

The way the US elects federal representatives, presidents, senators, and congresspeople, is way different than the way other democracies do it. Our system ensures that my vote will never count in a presidential election because of the electoral college and the "winner take all" custom. "Winner take all" means that even though Kentucky is about one third Democratic, all eight electoral votes go to a Republican. I recently tried to explain to someone why the electoral college means a vote in Wyoming is worth about 40 votes in California, but I'm sure they didn't understand a word. Yet that's only true for Wyoming Republican votes. That's how a candidate can win the presidential election without a majority of the votes, as happened in 2000 and in 2016. Vox explains how other places have worked out better ways of achieving a proportionally representative government.