Sen. Dick Durbin called to abolish the Electoral College Wednesday, days after electors confirmed President-elect Donald Trump’s November victory.
“I’m calling for the retirement of the Electoral College,” Durbin tweeted. “Americans deserve better than a system prevents them from choosing their POTUS.”
Although Trump’s election was confirmed by the Electoral College Monday, 304 votes to Hillary Clinton’s 227, he lost the popular vote by 2.86 million votes, according to the New York Times.
Durbin joins a growing list of lawmakers and pundits calling for a change to the electoral system. On Monday, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who lost to Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary, insisted, “We need to change the Electoral College.”
“Trump received 25 million fewer votes than Clinton, yet he’ll soon be president,” Sanders tweeted. “Clearly, in a democratic society, this shouldn’t happen.”
Trump spoke out against the Electoral College over the course of the campaign, tweeting that it was a “disaster" just two days before the election. Nevertheless, the president-elect changed his tune after clinching victory in November.
“Campaigning to win the Electoral College is much more difficult & sophisticated than the popular vote,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “Hillary focused on the wrong states!”
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"I would have done better in the election, if that is possible, if the winner was based on popular vote - but would campaign differently," he tweeted.
However, Trump's victory isn't without precedent. In the 2000 presidential election, former President George W. Bush won the Electoral College, despite his Democratic challenger, Al Gore, winning the popular vote.
