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17 hours ago · The victor is the first to win a majority of electors, the so-called magic number of 270. Each state’s slate of electors then convene before sending off the collected votes to Congress for its ...
Jun 10, 2021 · The problem is that twice since 2000, the person with the most votes didn't win. Both times — in 2000 and 2016 — it was the Republican candidate who got fewer votes but ended...
- Mara Liasson
- What Is The Electoral College and How Does It Work?
- How Was The Electoral College established?
- How Did Slavery Shape The Electoral College?
- What Are Faithless Electors?
- What Happens If No Candidate Wins A Majority of Electoral College Votes?
- Are Electoral College Votes Distributed Equally Between States?
- What Did The 2020 Election Reveal About The Electoral College?
The Electoral College is a group of intermediaries designated by the Constitution to select the president and vice president of the United States. Each of the 50 states is allocated presidential electors equal to the number of its representatives and senators. The ratification of the 23rd Amendment in 1961 allowed citizens in the District of Columb...
The Constitutional Convention in 1787 settled on the Electoral College as a compromise between delegates who thought Congress should select the president and others who favored a direct nationwide popular vote. Instead, state legislatures were entrusted with appointing electors. Article II of the Constitution, which established the executive branch...
At the time of the Constitutional Convention, the northern states and southern states had roughly equal populations. However, nonvoting enslaved people made up about one-third of the southern states’ population. As a result, delegates from the South objected to a direct popular vote in presidential elections, which would have given their states les...
Ever since the 19th century reforms, states have expected their electors to honor the will of the voters. In other words, electors are now pledged to vote for the winner of the popular vote in their state. However, the Constitution does not require them to do so, which allows for scenarios in which “faithless electors” have voted against the popula...
If no ticket wins a majority of Electoral College votes, the presidential election is sent to the House of Representatives for a runoff. Unlike typical House practice, however, each state only gets one vote, decided by the party that controls the state’s House delegation. Meanwhile, the vice-presidential race is decided in the Senate, where each me...
Each state is allocated a number of electoral votes based on the total size of its congressional delegation. This benefits smaller states, which have at least three electoral votes — including two electoral votes tied to their two Senate seats, which are guaranteed even if they have a small population and thus a small House delegation. Based on pop...
In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential race, Donald Trump and his allies fueled an effort to overturn the results of the election, spreading repeated lies about widespread voter fraud. This included attempts by a number of state legislatures to nullify some of their states’ votes, which often targeted jurisdictions with large numbers of Black vo...
Apr 26, 2021 · Texas has gained two more votes in Congress and the Electoral College for the next decade, while Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon each gained one seat, based on the first...
- Hansi Lo Wang
Jun 9, 2021 · The Electoral College, that unique American institution that chooses the president on a state-by-state basis, doesn't get a whole lot of attention; that is unless its winner loses the popular...
- Mara Liasson
Jan 11, 2021 · The bottom line is that Trump received a four-point boost from the Electoral College in 2020 — or, as Shor puts it, Democrats needed to win 52 percent of the national electorate in order to...
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What if the Electoral College did not work?
Oct 26, 2020 · In the end, the race won't come down to who wins the popular votes — but who secures 270 electoral college votes. Here is a look at the electoral college and how it works.
