In America, We Don’t Actually Vote for President; the Electoral College Does. Here’s How It Works.

So, you’ve just voted. And you’ve heard about the Electoral College. And now you’re wondering, does my vote even matter? What’s this “Electoral College” thing anyway?

If you’ve asked these questions, you’re not alone. Frankly, it’s confusing and most Americans don’t really understand how the voting process actually works.

On election night, you’ll see that all the news outlets talk about the “road to 270”–the minimum number of electoral votes needed to win the election. So where do those numbers come from and how does it work exactly? Here’s a visual guide to help you out as we enter the 2020 election:

If the graphic is hard to review, zoom in on your browser or read the textual content below.

In America, You Don’t Actually Vote for President. You Vote for the Electoral College.

To win the presidency, a candidate must win the majority of “electoral” votes—not the popular votes. When you cast your ballot for a president, you are actually voting to have representatives of the candidate’s party—chosen “electors”—cast official votes on your behalf. IN OTHER WORDS: If you vote for Joe Biden, you are actually voting to have the Democratic Party’s chosen electors vote on your behalf; if you vote for Trump, you’re voting for the Republican Party’s electors to vote for you.

So…What Is an “Electoral College”?

The “electoral college” is the group of party-nominated “electors” selected to cast the official electoral votes for the next president. Each political party nominates their own group of 538 people, each who represent an assigned state and who casts one vote for president. These nominated electors pledge to vote for the party’s nominee. IN OTHER WORDS: If the majority of people in your state for Trump, each Republican elector in your state wins the right to cast one electoral vote on behalf of your state. You assume in good faith that the elector will keep their pledge to vote for their party.  

Why Are there 538 Electoral Votes?

The U.S. Constitution provides one electoral vote for every senator (100) and one vote for every congressional district (435). Washington DC, even though they don’t have a senator, is given the same number of votes as the state with the lowest representation (3). IN OTHER WORDS: Every state gets at least 2 and the rest are divided up based on your state’s population.  

How are the Electoral Votes Divided Up By States?

All states start with 2 electoral votes (see above). Each state then gets one vote per congressional district, which are assigned based on population. Each district is intended to represent 1/435 of the U.S. population, so the more populous a state in comparison to the others, the more electoral votes. The 435 congressional districts are reassigned every 10 years based on census data. IN OTHER WORDS: Utah, population of 3.2 million in 2020, has four congressional districts. So, Utah has 6 total electoral votes (2 for the senators, 4 for the districts). California (population 40 million), on the other hand, has 55 electoral votes (2 for senators, 53 for the districts).

Why Does America Use an Electoral College?

To maintain fair representation by state and to help prevent a tyrannical dictator from winning an election. The Founders of the Constitution feared that highly populated regions would always determine the election, leaving less populous states with little influence on the overall election. They also feared that the public could be easily persuaded to vote for someone unfit to uphold the democracy; the electoral college allowed a backup plan for appointed representatives to select the president if the public made a really bad choice. IN OTHER WORDS: North Dakota still has a chance to make a difference and the electoral college, in theory, could vote contrary to what the people vote.

Do Electors Ever Vote Contrary to Their Pledge?

Yes, but it’s rare. Most states require, by oath or fine, that electors keep to their pledge. An elector that votes contrary to their pledge is called a “faithless elector.” Between 1900 and 2000, there had only been 8 total faithless electors. In 2016, there were seven. Faithless electors have never changed the outcome of an election. IN OTHER WORDS: It’s possible that you could vote for Biden but an elector in your state could still vote for Trump—it’s just unlikely. It’s even more unlikely that multiple electors in your state would vote against the popular state vote; it would be completely unprecedented if faithless voters overturned the results of the election.

Has a Candidate Ever Won the Electoral College Vote but Lost the Popular Vote?

Yes. While the Electoral College system normally follows the popular vote, five presidential candidates in history have lost the popular vote but still won the election: John Quincy Adams (1824); Rutherford B. Hayes (1876); Benjamin Harrison (1888); George W. Bush (2000);  Donald Trump (2016). IN OTHER WORDS: It doesn’t happen often, but it’s possible, and it’s happened recently.