美国总统选举采用独特的选举人团制度（Electoral College）。简而言之，选举人票是按照“赢家通吃”原则投票，即各州胜选者全取该州的选举人票。

选举人团制度于1787年被写入美国宪法中，目前共有538个选举人团席次，每个州的选举人数为该州在参议院和众议院的议员总人数。

人口最少的怀俄明州只有三个选举人席位，而人口最多的加利福尼亚州则拥有55张选举人票。

以下为英文素材，由胡晓凡、汤文华提供翻译，欢迎大家参与交流！

因篇幅较长，分多期为大家呈现。【原文转载于“LEC法律英语考试资讯”微信公众号 】

Who likes this system?

谁青睐这一制度？

A popular vote system certainly would be simpler to understand.

毫无疑问，全国普选制度更容易被理解。

今年美国大选频现争议，民众要求“清点每张选票”(网络图片)

However, as proponents of the Electoral College point out, if you thought that recount in Florida in 2000 was nasty, imagine a nationwide recount of more than 130 million votes. THAT would be messy. And it could happen. 

然而，正如选举人团制度的支持者指出的那样，如果你认为2000年佛罗里达州的重新计票是令人讨厌的，那么想象一下全国范围内超过1.3亿张选票的重新计票。那更是一团糟。这样的情况是可能发生的。

Some states have automatic recounts for elections that are separated by less than 1%. In 2016, with 136 million voters, that would have been a margin of around 136,000 votes. You can imagine a recount in the razor-thin election of 1960, which featured a less-than 2% difference in vote totals, but a solid Electoral College victory for John F. Kennedy.

一些州对得票率相差不到1%的选举结果自动开始重新计票。在2016年，有1.36亿选民，那将是大约13.6万张选票的差额。可以想象，在1960年那场势均力敌的选举中进行重新计票，当时选票总数相差不到2％，但约翰·肯尼迪(John F. Kennedy)以绝对优势赢得了选举人团的选票。

One of the most important supporters is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has weighed in against the idea of a national popular vote effort on the Senate floor.

参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)是选举人团制度最重要的支持者之一，他在全体参议员中提出了反对举行全国普选的观点。

Some defenses of the Electoral College have a racial tinge. Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage said that without the Electoral College, white people will have less say, which is quite sad considering the 3/5 Compromise helped bring about the Electoral College in the first place.

一些人对选举人团制度的辩护带有些许种族色彩。前缅因州州长保罗·利佩吉(Paul LePage)表示，如果没有选举人团制度，白人的话语权就会减少。考虑到最初是 3/5妥协（每个奴隶被算作五分之三个人）帮助实现了选举人团制度，这一想法是非常可悲的。

'Actually what would happen if they do what they say they're gonna do is white people will not have anything to say,' LePage said, according to reports. 'It's only going to be the minorities that would elect. It would be California, Texas, Florida. All the small states like Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Wyoming, Montana, Rhode Island, you'll never see a presidential candidate again. You'll never see anybody at the national stage come to our state,' he said. 'We're gonna be forgotten people. It's an insane, insane process.'

根据报告，利佩吉说:“事实上，如果他们说到做到，那么白人将没有话语权。”“只有少数族裔才会参与选举。总统候选人可能从加利福尼亚州、德克萨斯州、佛罗里达州产生。你永远不会在小的州再看到总统候选人，比如缅因州、新罕布什尔州、佛蒙特州、怀俄明州、蒙大拿州、罗德岛州。以后将永远不会有总统候选人来到我们州。”他说道，“我们将被遗忘，这是一个非常疯狂的过程。”

But 65 percent of Americans supported selecting the President by popular vote, compared to 32% who preferred the Electoral College in a June 2018 PRRI/Atlantic survey. There's less support if the wording includes changing the Constitution. A Pew survey in March of 2018 asked if Americans supported amending the Constitution to select the President by popular vote and a smaller 55%, still a popular majority, endorsed the idea.

但在2018年6月的公共宗教研究机构/大西洋杂志（PRRI/Atlantic）的一项调查中，65%的美国人支持通过全国普选选举总统，相比之下，只有32%的美国人更倾向选举人团制度。如果措辞中包括修改宪法，支持率就会降低。2018年3月，皮尤（Pew）的一项调查询问美国人是否支持修改宪法，通过普选选举总统。只有略少于55%的人（但仍然占多数）支持这一想法。

However, the Electoral College is written into the Constitution and changing the Constitution is very difficult. It takes years to accomplish and requires broad majorities in Congress or state legislatures. States that currently benefit from the Electoral College would have to give up some of that power. The other possibility is something like the aforementioned agreement by states to honor the national popular vote winner. But you can bet if that proposal takes hold, there will be lawsuits.

然而，选举人团制度已被写入宪法，修改宪法是非常困难的。这需要数年时间才能完成，并且需要国会或州立法机构的绝大多数的支持。当前受益于选举人团制度的州将不得不放弃部分权力。另一种可能性是类似于上述各州达成的旨在向全国普选获胜者兑现承诺的协议。但是毋庸置疑，如果该提议生效，将会出现法律诉讼。

That said, the Electoral College has actually changed three times, each by constitutional amendment. 

即使如此，事实上选举人团制度经历了三次修改，每一次都是通过宪法修正案的形式进行。

The 12th Amendment, passed after the tie election of 1800 made it so that electors voted for President and Vice President instead of voting for two people who could be President. The 20th Amendment put a time limit on the process. The 23rd Amendment gave electors to the District of Columbia.

在1800年形成平局的总统大选后通过的第十二修正案规定，选举人可以投票选出总统和副总统，而不是投票选出两人中可能成为总统的人。第二十修正案对该流程设定了时间限制。第二十三修正案规定了哥伦比亚特区的选举人席位。

And there was a serious move decades ago to abolish the Electoral College altogether. In 1968, a proposal to replace the Electoral College with a popular vote system easily passed in the House. It was filibustered in the Senate.

几十年前，美国采取了重大举措想要完全废除选举人团制度。1968年，众议院轻易通过一项以普选制度取代选举人团制度的提案，但该议案在参议院中受到阻挠，未被通过。