What is an electoral vote?

What is an electoral vote?

In the American electoral system, a candidate may succeed in winning the popular vote, but his opponent will get to the White House by relying on more electoral votes.

In the history of US presidential elections, the president of this country has managed to get to the White House five times (1824, 1876, 1888, 2000 and 2016) by appealing to electoral votes.

The last time it happened was in 2016 that even though most of the voters voted for the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and she got three million more votes than the Republican candidate Donald Trump, but Donald Trump won the election with a majority of the electoral votes.

The basis of electoral selection of each state

In the United States, each state has representatives in the House of Representatives and the Senate of the country who are elected in national elections and sent to the Congress, which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The number of state representatives in the House of Representatives varies according to the population of each state. But all states regardless of population have 2 senators in the senate.

The electors of each state, who are considered decision-makers in national affairs, consist of the total representatives of each state and its two senators.

For example, California, which has a population of 39 million, has 53 representatives in the House of Representatives and 2 senators in the Senate, so its electors will be 55. This state has the most electoral votes.

These people are considered to be the elite of each state. In the US federal system, every state, however small, has the same influence and power as the big states. The function of the electors is in this direction.

The need to receive the electoral votes for the presidency

In the US presidential elections, candidates have to have electoral votes in addition to popular votes to reach the White House. Because according to the law, a candidate will enter the White House who has 50% plus one vote of the electoral votes.

The number of electors across America reaches 538, so the candidate who can get the positive votes of 270 electors is considered the final winner.

How to get the electoral vote

Electoral votes are also obtained in such a way that if the popular votes in a state are for the Republican candidate, for example, the number of electoral votes will be given to the Republicans.

Of course, it is possible for the elector to vote against the popular vote and, for example, in the aforementioned hypothetical state, want to count his vote in favor of the Democratic candidate. These electors are called disloyal electors.

Minority presidents

The two-stage presidential election of the United States of America has also brought problems. The most important factor in the victory or defeat of a candidate is not the number of their popular votes, but the amount of votes obtained by the electoral boards determines the fate of the elections.

A person may win with more electoral commission votes and fewer popular votes, while his opponent has more popular votes.

So far, elected presidents have entered the White House several times without obtaining 50% of the popular vote, relying only on obtaining at least 270 electoral votes.

This category of American presidents is called “minority presidents”. In the 2000 and 2016 presidential elections, George W. Bush and Donald Trump won the US presidential elections with such a situation.