The Electoral College has played an outsize role in some recent U.S. elections. And a majority of Americans would welcome a change to the way presidents are elected, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Nine Michigan Republicans who were allegedly part of a plan to have "fake electors" counted in the tabulation of the 2020 presidential vote have pleaded not guilty.

The nine defendants include current and former Michigan Republican Party officials and local elected officials.

They pleaded not guilty Thursday in Ingham County District Court and were each released on $1,000 bond.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Tuesday announced felony charges against 16 Michigan residents for their roles in an alleged false electors scheme intended to help then-President Donald Trump overturn his loss in the 2020 U.S. election.

The 16 Republicans in the state were accused of submitting a phony slate of electors in hopes of flipping the winner of Michigan in the presidential election from Democrat Joe Biden to Trump.

The Michigan Attorney General's Office has charged 16 people for signing certificates claiming that former President Donald Trump won the presidential election in 2020.

The individuals have each been charged with eight felony counts, including forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery, and election law forgery. Some of the charges carry jail sentences of 14 years and/or a $10,000 fine.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) announced felony charges Tuesday against the 16 Michigan Republicans who falsely claimed to be the state’s 2020 presidential electors for forgery and other crimes, bringing the first charges in the country against Trump electors as investigations over attempts to overturn those results intensify across the country.

The Supreme Court’s rejection of a controversial election theory may also have another huge political consequence for future presidential contests: It obliterated the dubious fake elector scheme that Donald Trump deployed in his failed attempt to seize a second term.

Special counsel Jack Smith has compelled at least two Republican fake electors to testify to a federal grand jury in Washington in recent weeks by giving them limited immunity, part of a current push by federal prosecutors to swiftly nail down evidence in the sprawling criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

While I have been unstinting in condemning efforts to bend the law beyond recognition to find a charge that will stick to Donald Trump, I have thus far mostly avoided commenting on the possible charges being contemplated in Georgia involving Trump’s efforts to get electors certified from a state he lost in 2020. We simply do not have a really clear fix at this point on exactly what legal theory would support charges.

At least eight of Georgia’s "fake electors" have been granted immunity in the Fulton County district attorney's investigation into former President Donald Trump and his allies regarding alleged interference in the 2020 election, according to a new court filing.

More than a dozen individuals signed a certificate falsely declaring that Trump had won Georgia in the 2020 election and declared themselves Georgia's “duly elected and qualified” electors. Georgia has 16 electors in the Electoral College.

Most Americans support using the popular vote and not the electoral college vote to select a president, according to data from the Pew Research Center.

About 63% of Americans support using the popular vote, compared to 35% who would rather keep the electoral college system.

Approval for the popular vote is up from January 2021, when 55% of Americans said they back the change; 43% supported keeping the electoral college at that time.