Photo credit goes to Blue and Gold member Meg Kelly.
Click here to find a survey of ballots taken in different states.
Centerpiece U.S. presidential election results graphic showing electoral votes and popular votes by state, with tables and U.S. map. MCT 2012
Don’t understand how the
Electoral College works?
No fear. Look here for
a simplified election process.
Here’s how it starts:
1.)An individual votes and her vote helps decide her state’s decision on who to give the state’s electoral votes to.
2.)Each state has a specific number of electoral votes that they can give to a candidate, this number equals the number of congressional districts that they have. All a state’s electoral votes will be given to a single candidate depending on the state’s majority.
*This means that a state with a higher population is important for a candidate to win because they will have more representation in congress, meaning more electoral votes.*
**Though Maine and Nebraska have proportional representation meaning that the state’s electoral votes will be divided depending on the congressional districts individual decision.**3.) Now the candidate who wins enough states to earn 270 electoral votes (half of the possible 538 electoral votes) will become president elect.
What’s the difference between the popular and the electoral votes?
A citizen’s vote will influence their congressional district’s decision on who to give their vote to. When a state’s electors (people elected into a position to vote in favor of their congressional district’s decision) come together to cast their state’s votes to this is the decision on who to give the state’s electoral votes to. The electoral votes are the votes that actually decide who the president will be.
Collectively every citizen’s vote will come together to create the popular vote, or the number of people who actually voted for the candidate.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
Recent Comments