EXPLANER
In the United States, presidential elections are decided by a state-based voting allocation system. Here’s what you need to know.
This is at the heart of how presidential elections are decided in the United States. But for many, the Electoral College is a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in an enigma.
However, it doesn’t have to be confusing.
To understand the electoral college system, you must first know that American presidents are not elected by the national popular vote: the total number of votes obtained by each candidate.
Instead, a group of 538 so-called “electors” choose the president. These voters constitute the Electoral College.
So who are these voters?
Before the election, political parties in each state choose a electoral list: real people who ultimately voted for the president. Very often, voters are party officials or supporters.
Each state gets the same number of electors as it has representatives in the U.S. House and Senate.
For example, Michigan gets 15 electoral college votes. That’s the same as the two senators and 13 House members who represent the state in Congress.
Now that we know who these electors are and how many represent each state, how are their votes distributed? This is where it gets fun.
In almost every state in the United States, the presidential candidate who receives the most votes wins all the voters in that state: it is a winner-take-all system. Even if a candidate narrowly wins a state, they still get all the voters.
The outliers are Maine and Nebraska, which allocate their voters based on a more complex system that reflects the popular vote at the state and congressional district levels.
The District of Columbia – which is not a state but includes the nation’s capital – also gets three electoral college votes.
But here’s the most important part: To win the White House, a presidential candidate must win the support of a majority of voters.
So, out of a total of 538 Electoral College votes, they need at least 270 earn.
Voters finally cast their ballots in December, about a month after the election.
Their votes are then certified by Congress in early January, when the president is confirmed and takes office.
So what does all this mean?
Indeed, to win the US presidency, a candidate must win the support of enough key states to reach the magic number of 270 in the Electoral College.
Under this system, a candidate who wins the popular vote – the most votes overall in the United States – cannot actually win the White House.
A recent example came in 2016, when Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost the election to Republican Donald Trump. His victory was bolstered by victories in states like Florida and Pennsylvania, which each offered at least 20 electoral college votes.
The Electoral College system was indeed designed to ensure the political power of the states.
Some Americans believe the Electoral College should be abolished in favor of the popular vote. Others argue that the system ensures that highly populated states do not overshadow smaller ones, thereby encouraging minority representation in American democracy.
