How this week’s midterm result could change presidential elections forever

Tuesday’s midterms results were a landslide unseen since the Watergate backlash in 1976.

But the result could have ramifications for all presidential elections going forward.

Since the days of George Washington, the president was not elected via a direct vote by using something called the electoral college.

This system would sometimes allow candidates to win the presidency even when they haven't won the popular vote.

But this week's outcome in state legislatures could undo all of that without the involvement of anyone in Washington.

Under the current system, voters in 48 states choose who they want to be president, and the winner there gets all the state's electoral college votes.

Two other states allocate their electoral college votes based on results in congressional districts.

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With 538 electoral college votes up for grabs, whoever gets 270 or more becomes the president.

States are allowed to assign their electoral college votes however they see fit.

Which is why Democratic legislatures across the country have signed on to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

Under the system, states will appoint their votes to whatever candidate gets the most votes nationwide.

But it will only take effect once enough states to sway the election sign on.

Right now 16 states comprising 222 electoral votes have enacted laws putting them in the compact.

But after Tuesday's midterm elections, Democrats have taken power in enough other states to tip the balance.

If they sign on to the compact, it will dramatically shake up presidential elections.

Candidates will no longer be fixated on swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Nevada.

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Instead, they will need to motivate voters everywhere.

Republicans would need to win over voters in California and New York, and Democrats in Tennessee and Louisiana.

But a roadblock might lie in the states that have just voted in Democrats.

Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona are all now controlled by Democrats.

But those states are all crucial swing states. By circumventing the electoral college, they will find themselves less important in presidential elections.

Democrats typically support overturning the electoral college because of five elections where they have won the popular vote but not the presidency.

For Democrats this was a conundrum of geography. Democrats tended to win by more in their best states, and lose by less in their worst states.

In 2000, Al Gore got more votes nationwide than George W. Bush but lost anyway.

And in 2016, Hillary Clinton got three million more votes than Donald Trump but still lost.

In the 1800s, Democrats Samuel Tilden, Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland all won the popular vote but not the electoral college.

Jackson and Cleveland would be successful in other presidential elections.

Republicans have never lost the popular vote but won the election.