‘It needs to go’: Tim Walz calls for scrapping of electoral college system

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has called for the scrapping of the electoral college system of electing the US presidents. The Minnesota governor added that the system should be replaced with the popular vote principle.

Walz was in California Governor Gavin Newsom's home in Sacramento when he made the remark.

“I think all of us know, the electoral college needs to go.We need a national popular vote. We need to be able to go into York, Pennsylvania, and win," said Walz.

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"We need to be in western Wisconsin and win. We need to be in Reno, Nevada, and win,” he added.

Walz's statement did not go down well with the rivals, as Donald Trump's campaign said Democrats wanted to change the US Constitution.

“Why does Tampon Tim [Trump’s derisive nickname for Walz] hate the Constitution so much?,” the Trump campaign posted on its official X account.

Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign national press secretary, added that Walz-Harris campaign wanted to take away the second Amendment right of the citizens.

"Dangerously liberal Tim Walz made it crystal clear: the Harris-Walz administration will get rid of the Electoral College, a critical component of our Constitution. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz want to destroy our country’s fundamental rights by ripping away our freedom of speech through censorship, taking away our 2nd Amendment right, dismantling the Supreme Court by through court-packing, and now through removing the Electoral College," said Leavitt.

As the controversy snowballed, the Harris-Walz campaign officials stressed that abolishing the electoral college was not part of their agenda.

“Governor Walz believes that every vote matters in the electoral college and he is honored to be traveling the country and battleground states working to earn support for the Harris-Walz ticket,” Teddy Tschann, a spokesman for Walz, was quoted as saying by the New York Times.

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How does the electoral college work?

The US electoral college is made up of 538 members who gather in their state capitals after each presidential election to designate the winning president and vice president. To win, a candidate must receive an absolute majority—at least 270 electoral votes.

Each state has a number of electors equal to its total representation in Congress, combining its House — the number depends on the states' population and Senate members — two in every state, irrespective of the state's size.

(With inputs from agencies)