What is the Electoral College?

Why did the US decide to adopt this system?

The Electoral College was established by the framers of the US Constitution in 1787. At that time, the United States was a brand new nation and completely independent of Great Britain after the American Revolutionary War.

These people, known as the Founding Fathers, wanted to create an electoral system that did not concentrate power. However, some of them were concerned that voters were not educated enough to make responsible and informed voting decisions. Moreover, at the time, no other country elected its leaders through universal suffrage.

The Founding Fathers of the United States saw the Electoral College as a compromise between the popular vote and giving more responsible entities the power to choose the president. So they decided to have electors elected in each state vote for the president.

The Electoral College was first established in 1787. Photo: Reuters

How does the Electoral College work?

The US Congress consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each state has two members in the Senate to represent their state at the federal level. Members of the House of Representatives represent individual districts within a state.

The number of US House representatives a state has is determined by the US Census, a population count taken every 10 years.

California is the most populous state and therefore has the most representatives: 52. Smaller states, such as Alaska, have only a single House representative.

Each state gets one electoral vote for each member of Congress. Thus, California has 54 electoral votes (52 for House representatives and two for senators).

Meanwhile, the state of Alaska has three seats: one for House representatives and two for Senators.

In total, the United States has 538 members of Congress and therefore 538 electoral votes in the race to become president of the United States. A presidential candidate needs to win an absolute majority of electoral votes, or 270 or more, to be elected president.

Who do Americans vote for directly?

When Americans vote in a presidential election, they are voting for their presidential candidate's electors. In most states, if one candidate wins a majority of the vote, they receive all of the electoral votes. For example, if current Democratic candidate Kamala Harris wins a majority of votes in California, she will receive all 54 electoral votes.

Maine and Nebraska are the only states that do not award all of their electoral votes to a single candidate based on a plurality of votes. In these two states, the electoral votes are divided among candidates based on their percentage of the vote.

Although there is no constitutional law requiring electors to vote for the candidate who receives the majority of votes in their state, it is extremely rare for electors to vote against their party. According to the US Office of the Federal Register, "more than 99% of electors have voted as pledged" in US political history.

What happens if no candidate wins a majority of votes?

In the rare event of a tie, where both candidates receive 269 Electoral College votes, the House of Representatives is responsible for deciding the winner. Each state delegation gets one vote, and a majority (26) is needed to win. To date, there has never been a tie in the Electoral College.

When will the winner be announced?

The US Congress counts the electoral votes on January 6 and the newly elected president is inaugurated on January 20. By the time the results are announced on Election Day, the winner is usually clear and the January 6 announcement is essentially a formality.

But counting votes can take a while. In the 2020 election, Joe Biden was declared the winner on November 7, four days after Election Day on November 3.

Ngoc Anh (according to DW)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/bau-cu-my-2024-dai-cu-tri-doan-la-gi-va-co-vai-tro-nhu-the-nao-post309110.html