Not withstanding the assertions of Donald Trump, a Republican, that he actually won reelection, the reality is that the Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, was the clear victor. Biden won 81,283,495 votes, and Trump won 74,223,755, according to results reported by The Associated Press.
     Four years ago, it was a different story. Then, if the election was simply a matter of counting votes, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate, would have won, with 65,853,516 votes, CNN reported. Republican Trump had 62,984,825 votes. So, why was he the winner? The answer is that he won enough states to guarantee an Electoral College victory. In 2016, he won 306 electoral votes, whereas Clinton won 232 votes.
     The Electoral College did not help Trump this time. In fact, the results were apparently reversed: Trump won enough states to take home 232 electoral votes. Biden won 306 electoral votes.
     So what is the Electoral College and how does it work? Here are some questions and answers:

Why not just elect a president using the popular vote? During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the framers "feared that without sufficient information about candidates from outside their state, people would naturally vote for a 'favorite son' from their own state or region. At worst, no president would emerge with a popular majority sufficient to govern the whole country. At best, the choice of president would always be decided by the largest, most populous states with little regard for the smaller ones," explained William C. Kimberling in a 1992 article, The Electoral College on the Federal Election Commission's website.
    The textbook, Government By the People by James MacGregor Burns, J.W. Peltason and Thomas E. Cronin (Prentice-Hall Inc.; 1984), explains, “The framers of the Constitution devised the Electoral College system because they wanted the president chosen by electors exercising independent judgment. Subsequent political changes have transformed the electors into straight party representatives who simply register the voters’ decision.”

How does it work? The Constitution spells out that this is how presidents are elected: “Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress…” 

What are the requirements for becoming an elector? The Constitution is specific about who can’t take the job: “No senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States shall be appointed an elector.”
    The 14th Amendment, approved shortly after the Civil War, takes another step. A person cannot serve as an elector if he or she “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same [the U.S.], or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.” 

How are electors chosen? Political parties nominate potential electors at party conventions, or the party’s central committee chooses electors by vote.
    When citizens vote, they vote for one candidate or another. But “the voter technically does not vote directly for a candidate but chooses between slates of presidential electors,” explains Government By the People.

When do the electors vote? Officially, the electors meet in their respective state capitals on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. This year, that will happen on Dec. 14.

Can electors vote any way they want, or must they honor the popular vote?  "There is no constitutional provision or federal law that requires electors to vote according to the results of the popular vote in their states," explains an article on the U.S. National Archives website. In half of the states, however, electors are bound either by state law or pledge to vote for a specific candidate. In July, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states can require their presidential electors to support the candidate chosen by a majority of voters. (For a story on this ruling, see the ABC News website.)
 

Number of electoral votes in each state according to the National Archives:

State	Number of Electoral Votes
Alabama	9
Alaska	3
Arizona	11
Arkansas	6
California	55
Colorado	9
Connecticut	7
Delaware	3
District of Columbia	3
Florida	29
Georgia	16
Hawaii	4
Idaho	4
Illinois	20
Indiana	11
Iowa	6
Kansas	6
Kentucky	8
Louisiana	8
Maine	4
Maryland	10
Massachusetts	11
Michigan	16
Minnesota	10
Mississippi	6
Missouri	10
Montana	3
Nebraska	5
Nevada	6
New Hampshire	4
New Jersey	14
New Mexico	5
New York	29
North Carolina	15
North Dakota	3
Ohio	18
Oklahoma	7
Oregon	7
Pennsylvania	20
Rhode Island	4
South Carolina	9
South Dakota	3
Tennessee	11
Texas	38
Utah	6
Vermont	3
Virginia	13
Washington	12
West Virginia	5
Wisconsin	10
Wyoming	3

 

     Related:

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