10/30/2024

Election 101: The Electoral College

Here is how the college actually works

The 2024 presidential election is just around the corner as Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump rush to garner votes ahead of Nov. 5. The winner won’t be decided by the number of votes cast in their favor but by a group of 538 people that make up the Electoral College.

"When you go vote for President, you do not vote for President," said William Field, political science professor at Rutgers University. Instead, you are voting for that party's electors, who typically cast a vote in favor of the presidential candidate that wins the most votes in that state.

It's a process that dates back centuries and has proven controversial, particularly in instances when a candidate wins the popular vote but loses the Electoral College. Most recently, Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election despite receiving nearly 3 million fewer votes overall, marking the fifth time in U.S. history that a candidate has become president without winning the most votes.

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.