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The Electoral College explained: Why your vote matters
John Sacher, a history professor at UCF, discusses why your vote matters and what could happen if there is an Electoral College tie.
ORLANDO, Fla. - The Electoral College has been used, since the United States was founded, to elect the nation's president.
What is the Electoral College?
The Electoral College is the process by which Americans elect their president and vice president through appointed state electors and the electoral votes they cast. A candidate needs 270 of the 538 total electoral votes to win the 2024 presidential election.
How are electoral votes allocated?
Electoral votes are allocated among the states based on the Census. Each state has the same number of electors as it does members in its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two Senators.
Each state gets at least three, while states with larger populations get more. Electors are generally selected and nominated by a political party or the party's presidential nominee.
In the redistricting that followed the 2020 Census, Texas gained two electoral votes and five states – Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon – gained one each, while seven states – California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia – lost one electoral vote.
Related: How many electoral votes does each state have?
How many electoral votes does each state have?
- Alabama - 9
- Alaska - 3
- Arizona - 11
- Arkansas - 6
- California - 54
- Colorado - 10
- Connecticut - 7
- Delaware - 3
- Florida - 30
- Georgia - 16
- Hawaii - 4
- Idaho - 4
- Illinois - 19
- Indiana - 11
- Iowa - 6
- Kansas - 6
- Kentucky - 8
- Louisiana - 8
- Maine - 4
- Maryland - 10
- Massachusetts - 11
- Michigan - 15
- Minnesota - 10
- Mississippi - 6
- Missouri - 10
- Montana - 4
- Nebraska - 5
- Nevada - 6
- New Hampshire - 4
- New Jersey - 14
- New Mexico - 5
- New York - 28
- North Carolina - 16
- North Dakota - 3
- Ohio - 17
- Oklahoma - 7
- Oregon - 8
- Pennsylvania - 19
- Rhode Island - 4
- South Carolina - 9
- South Dakota - 3
- Tennessee - 11
- Texas - 40
- Utah - 6
- Vermont - 3
- Virginia - 13
- Washington - 12
- Washington D.C. - 3
- West Virginia - 4
- Wisconsin - 10
- Wyoming - 3
What part does the popular vote play in the Electoral College?
After voters cast their ballots in November, the candidate who wins the popular vote determines which slate of electors-Republican, Democrat or a third party-will cast electoral votes in the Electoral College for the president.
In most states, whoever gets the most votes in the state is awarded all of its electoral votes, in what's called a winner-take-all model. However, Maine and Nebraska each have "proportional representation" based on the winner of the popular vote within each congressional district and then two "at-large" electors based on the winner of the overall state-wide popular vote.
How does federalism affect the Electoral College?
Federalism is a system of government that divides power between a central government and the states. There is no centralized popular vote for the United States president. States have their own rules over how to count presidential votes and award electors. So a state like Pennsylvania doesn't even start counting the early votes until Election Day, whereas in Florida, the state begins counting as early votes come in. So that means it could take a long time. So we could be talking about if it's a close election, a week, two weeks, until a president is named. States have until December 11 to certify their vote for Election Day.
Why was the Electoral College created?
The Electoral College is written into the Constitution, under Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, though the term "electoral college" itself does not appear in the document. The Founding Fathers were wary of the direct election of the president by popular vote of the citizens, in part, because our nation had just broken free of oppressive British rule under a king. It was also difficult to educate the citizenry and count votes in a timely manner. So the idea was that the voters in Georgia or, let's say New York, wouldn't know all the candidates, so they would elect electors, and those electors would be free agents. They would get to select who they wanted to be president.
We, of course, moved far away from that. The founders didn't envision a world of political parties or a world where electors are bound to support who the public votes for on Election Day.
Election Day 2024: Watch live
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