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The Electoral College

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The Electoral College When Americans go to the polls on Nov. 3 to vote in the presidential election, they will really be voting for their state’s representatives to the Electoral College. On Dec. 14, the 538 electors will meet in their respective states to vote. Their signed ballots will be sent to The Electoral College Congress to be counted on Jan. 6, 2021. A candidate needs 270 electoral college votes to win the presidency. Allocation of electors NH Each state receives a number of electors equal to the number of senators and Electors per state On this map, each square represents one Electoral House representatives it has. Therefore, the current allocations, based on the 2010 College vote, making states with more Electoral census, will be used for the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Washington, D.C., VT ME College votes appear larger. which has no congressional representatives, was granted the same number of electors as the least populous state (currently 3) by the 23rd Amendment to the MA Constitution. Because every state has two senators regardless of population, some states have NY CT disproportional representation in the Electoral College, compared to their WA RI population. MI OR Most populated MN WI PA NJ ND State Electors People per elector OH MT SD IA California 55 677,345 ID WY NE MD DE IL IN WV Texas 38 661,725 NV UT CO KS VA Won by MO New York 29 668,210 CA KY Hillary Clinton OK NC in 2016 Florida 29 648,321 AZ NM AR TN Illinois 20 641,531 SC Won by MS AL Donald Trump LA GA Least populated TX in 2016 Wyoming 3 187,875 DC Washington, D.C. 3 200,574 Vermont 3 208,580 FL AK HI North Dakota 3 224,197 Alaska 3 236,744 Winner take all ME Frequently asked questions In Maine and Nebraska, electors aren’t NE What happens if neither candidate gets a majority of electoral votes? fully decided by statewide popular The U.S. House of Representatives chooses a president from the three top candidates. vote. Instead, each congressional Each state delegation gets one vote. The Senate elects a vice president from the top district decides on its own elector, 2 districts 3 districts two vice presidential candidates. If the House doesn't’ elect a president by Inauguration while the remaining two electors are 2 statewide 2 statewide Day, the vice-president elect serves as acting president until the House acts. determined by the statewide votes. electors electors The House has had to do this twice, electing Thomas Jefferson in 1801 and John Quincy Adams in 1825. State has law attempting to force Faithless electors laws electors to vote for the state’s choice Can a candidate win the popular vote but lose the election? Because electors are mostly decided on a winner-takes-all by state basis, it is WA ME possible to win enough states to win the election without getting 50 percent of the MT ND VT national votes. NH Four presidents have won the electoral college without winning the popular vote: OR MN NY MA ID SD WI Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, George W. Bush in 2000, MI RI WY PA and Donald Trump in 2016. John Quincy Adams didn’t win the popular vote in the IA NJ CT NE OH 1824 election but, as stated above, neither candidate won the Electoral College vote NV IL IN DE WV in that election. CA UT VA MD CO KS MO KY DC NC Do electors have to vote for the candidate their state chooses? TN An elector who votes for any candidate other than the one chosen by their state is known OK SC AZ NM AR as a “faithless elector.” 29 states and the District of Columbia have laws that attempt to MS AL GA force electors to vote with their state. In 2008, one Minnesota elector voted for John Edwards, the vice presidential candidate, TX LA for president, prompting the state to pass a law pledging electors to the popular vote. In FL 1972, an elector nominated by the Republican party voted for the Libertarian candidate. In AK In 2016, ten electors voted or attempted to vote for a candidate that did not win their state. HI Graphic: Tribune News Service Source: National Archives and Records Administration, National Conference of State Legislatures, Federal Election Commission, FairVote.org.
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