In , seven electoral college votes were cast this way, but no result has been changed by faithless electors. The House of Representatives, the lower house of US lawmakers, will then vote to elect the president. This has happened only once, when in four candidates split the electoral vote, denying any one of them a majority.
With two parties dominating the US system, this is unlikely to happen today. Image source, Getty Images. So who are Americans voting for? How does the electoral college work? There are electors in total. Try our quiz on the key states at this election. Has a candidate lost the public vote but become president? Why was the system chosen?
Each state has a certain number of votes in the electoral college. Do electors have to vote for the candidate who won? In most, participants divide themselves into groups according to the candidate they support.
Undecided voters form their own group. Each group gives speeches supporting its candidate and tries to get others to join its group. At the end, the number of voters in each group determines how many delegates each candidate has won. During a closed primary or caucus, only voters registered with that party can take part and vote. Learn which states have which types of primaries. At stake in each primary or caucus is a certain number of delegates.
These are individuals who represent their state at national party conventions. The parties have different numbers of delegates due to the rules involved in awarding them. Each party also has some unpledged delegates or superdelegates. These delegates are not bound to a specific candidate heading into the national convention. When the primaries and caucuses are over, most political parties hold a national convention.
This is when the winning candidates receive their nomination. For information about your state's presidential primaries or caucuses, contact your state election office or the political party of your choice. Anyone who meets these requirements can declare their candidacy for president. That includes naming a principal campaign committee to raise and spend campaign funds. To become the presidential nominee, a candidate typically has to win a majority of delegates.
This happens through additional rounds of voting. Pledged, or bound delegates must support the candidate they were awarded to through the primary or caucus process. In the first round of voting, pledged delegates usually have to vote for the candidate they were awarded to at the start of the convention. Unpledged delegates don't. Superdelegates can't vote in the first round unless a candidate already has enough delegates through primaries and caucuses to get the nomination.
Superdelegates can vote in these later rounds. At the convention, the presidential nominee officially announces their selection of a vice presidential running mate.
A candidate has to "win" at least electors in order to become President. Voting at the Electoral College takes place in the weeks after Election Day the winner is usually always announced on the night of the election. Inauguration Day takes place on January 20 at the U. Capitol building in Washington D. First, the Vice President is sworn in, followed by the President.
Both officially become President and Vice President after reciting the oath of office which has been used since the late 18th century.
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Members of the U. Each state is allowed to choose as many electors as it has senators and representatives in Congress.
During a presidential election year, on Election Day the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November , the electors from the party that gets the most popular votes are elected in a winner-take-all-system, with the exception of Maine and Nebraska , which allocate electors proportionally.
In order to win the presidency, a candidate needs a majority of electoral votes out of a possible This is largely ceremonial: Because electors nearly always vote with their party, presidential elections are essentially decided on Election Day.
Historically, over 99 percent of all electors have cast their ballots in line with the voters. On January 6, as a formality, the electoral votes are counted before Congress and on January 20, the commander in chief is sworn into office.
Critics of the Electoral College argue that the winner-take-all system makes it possible for a candidate to be elected president even if he gets fewer popular votes than his opponent. This happened in the elections of , , , and However, supporters contend that if the Electoral College were done away with, heavily populated states such as California and Texas might decide every election and issues important to voters in smaller states would be ignored.
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