On November 5, the Americans They must vote for who will be their president for the next four years. However, in this country, the result does not depend solely on the popular vote.
This year, the candidate for Republican Party, Donald Trump and the current vice president and representative of the Democratic Party, Kamala Harris, are the two main characters that They are fighting for the presidency.
The winner of these elections is determined by the vote of the “electors.” These are part of a process called the Electoral College. The creation of this process aims to find a middle ground between the popular vote and the Congressional vote.
What is the Electoral College, who makes it up and how does it work?
This is a process, not a place, in which it is included, the selection of electors, a meeting of electors to vote for the president and vice president, and the counting of the electors’ votes by Congress.
Each of the 50 states, and also Washington DC, has the same electors as members of Congress (House of Representatives and Senate). This means that there are a total of 538 voters. California is the state with the most voters, with 54.
Who is chosen as electors, when they are chosen and the parameters for the election They vary by state.
Now, the most important answer is, how does the Electoral College work? After each citizen has voted, it goes to a state count. In 48 states and Washington DC, the winner wins all the votes in that state. For example, if in California, Harris had more votes from citizens, she would take 54 electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska assign their electors using a proportional system.
A candidate needs at least 270 electoral votes, more than half of the total, to win the presidential election. Generally, the winner is announced on election night, when the counting of citizens’ votes is completed.. The final decision will be known with the Electoral College votes in mid-December.
Unusual situations of the Electoral College process
It is possible for a candidate to win by the popular vote, but lose the election, since presidential elections are not decided by the direct vote of citizens. This has happened in 2016, in 2000 and three times in the last century.
Another situation that can occur is that no candidate wins a majority of the electoral votes. If this happens, the election goes to Congress. The House of Representatives elects the president from the three candidates with the most votes and the Senate elects the Vice President from the two main candidates. This happened twice in history, in 1800 when the House of Representatives elected Thomas Jefferson and 24 years later with the election of John Quincy Adams as president.
