EXPLAINER
Within the US, presidential elections are determined by a state-based vote allocation system. Right here’s what that you must know.
It’s on the coronary heart of how presidential elections in the USA are determined. However for a lot of, the Electoral College is a thriller, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in an enigma.
It doesn’t must be complicated, although.
To know the Electoral School system, you first must know that US presidents should not elected by the nationwide in style vote: the whole variety of votes every candidate receives.
As an alternative, a gaggle of 538 so-called “electors” choose the president. These electors make up the Electoral School.
So who’re these electors?
Earlier than the election, the political events in every state select a slate of electors: actual individuals who finally forged a vote for the president. Fairly often, the electors are get together officers or supporters.
Every state will get the identical variety of electors because it has representatives within the US Home of Representatives and the US Senate.
For instance, Michigan will get 15 Electoral School votes. That corresponds to the 2 senators and 13 Home members that symbolize the state in Congress.
Now that we all know who these electors are and what number of symbolize every state, how are their votes allotted? Right here’s the place it will get enjoyable.
In almost all of the states throughout the US, the presidential candidate who will get probably the most votes wins all that state’s electors: It’s a winner-takes-all system. Even when a candidate wins a state narrowly, they nonetheless get all of the electors.
The outliers are Maine and Nebraska, which allocate their electors based mostly on a extra difficult system that displays the favored vote on the state and congressional district ranges.
The District of Columbia — which isn’t a state however encompasses the nation’s capital — additionally will get three Electoral School votes.
However right here is crucial half: To win the White Home, a presidential candidate should win the assist of a majority of the electors.
So out of a complete of 538 Electoral School votes, they want at least 270 to win.
The electors finally forged their votes in December, a couple of month after the election.
Their votes are then licensed by Congress in early January, when the president is confirmed and takes workplace.
So what does this all imply?
Successfully, to win the US presidency, a candidate has to win assist in sufficient key states to achieve that magic Electoral School variety of 270.
Beneath this method, a candidate who wins the favored vote — probably the most votes in complete throughout the US — might not really win the White Home.
One recent example got here in 2016, when Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton received the favored vote however misplaced the election to Republican Donald Trump. His victory was buoyed by wins in states like Florida and Pennsylvania, every of which supplied a minimum of 20 Electoral School votes.
The Electoral School system was designed, in impact, to make sure the political energy of the states.
Some People say the Electoral School ought to be scrapped in favour of the favored vote. Others argue the system ensures extremely populated states don’t overshadow smaller ones, thereby encouraging minority illustration in US democracy.
