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Electoral College Explained
Electoral Votes, State Allocation, and the Threshold
The Electoral College is the system the United States uses to officially choose the president and vice president. Instead of a single nationwide vote directly deciding the winner, each state is assigned a certain number of electors. This system matters because winning the presidency depends on electoral votes, not just the total popular vote. As a result, campaign strategy often focuses on states that could swing either way.
Each state gets electors equal to its total number of senators and representatives in Congress, and the District of Columbia gets 3 electors. In most states, the candidate who wins the state's popular vote receives all of that state's electoral votes. A candidate needs a majority of electoral votes, currently 270 out of 538, to win the presidency. If no candidate reaches that majority, the House of Representatives chooses the president under special constitutional rules.
Key Facts
- Total electoral votes = 435 representatives + 100 senators + 3 for Washington, D.C. = 538
- Electors for a state = number of House members + 2 senators
- Winning threshold = 538/2 + 1 = 270 electoral votes
- Most states use a winner take all rule for awarding electoral votes
- Maine and Nebraska can split electoral votes by congressional district
- A candidate can win the national popular vote but lose the Electoral College
Vocabulary
- Electoral College
- The Electoral College is the process in which electors from each state formally choose the president and vice president.
- Elector
- An elector is a person chosen to cast an official vote for president and vice president on behalf of a state.
- Popular vote
- The popular vote is the total number of votes cast by individual citizens in an election.
- Winner take all
- Winner take all means the candidate who gets the most votes in a state receives all of that state's electoral votes.
- Swing state
- A swing state is a state where either major candidate has a realistic chance of winning.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Thinking the president is chosen directly by the national popular vote, which is wrong because the official winner is determined by electoral votes. The popular vote in each state usually decides that state's electors, not the national result by itself.
- Assuming every state splits electoral votes proportionally, which is wrong because most states use winner take all rules. Only Maine and Nebraska regularly divide some electoral votes.
- Forgetting that small states still get at least 3 electors, which is wrong because every state has 2 senators plus at least 1 representative. This changes how much influence each state's voters have relative to population.
- Believing 269 electoral votes is enough to win, which is wrong because a candidate must earn more than half of 538. The correct winning total is 270.
Practice Questions
- 1 A state has 8 representatives in the House. How many electoral votes does it have in total?
- 2 Candidate A wins states worth 245 electoral votes, and Candidate B wins states worth 260 electoral votes. There are 33 electoral votes still unassigned. How many more electoral votes does each candidate need to reach 270?
- 3 Explain why a candidate can win the national popular vote but still lose the presidency under the Electoral College system.