It is different from the popular vote, and it has an outsize impact on how candidates run and win campaigns.
FILE – Mia Lemon, 13, an eighth grader at Skyline Middle School, marks Nevada as a blue state as she counts ballots cast by her fellow students during the school’s mock presidential election Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, in Harrisonburg, Va. WASHINGTON — Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016 because of the Electoral College. So did George W. Bush in 2000.
Some Democrats charge that the system favors Republicans and they would rather the United States elect presidents by a simple majority vote. But the country’s framers set up the system in the Constitution, and it would require a constitutional amendment to change. Each state’s electors vote for the candidate who won the popular vote in that state. The runner-up gets nothing — except in Nebraska and Maine where elector votes are awarded based on congressional district and statewide results.
It varies by state, but often the electors are picked by state parties. Members of Congress cannot serve as electors.After state election officials certify their elections, electors meet in their individual states — never as one body — to certify the election. This year, that will happen on Dec. 17. Once a state’s electors have certified the vote, they send a certificate to Congress. Congress then formally counts and certifies the vote at a special session on Jan. 6. The vice president presides as the envelopes for each state are opened and verified.Lawmakers can object to a state’s results during the congressional certification, as several Republicans did after the 2020 election. On Jan.
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