The election is fast approaching, and things look very different from past years because of the coronavirus pandemic. If you've heard this term before but have no clue what it means, you're not alone. But the Electoral College is a piece of the puzzle that still confuses many people—no matter what age they are! The Electoral College sounds like a grown-up school your older sibling or babysitter goes to when they finish high school, but that isn't the case.
You may already know a bit about the election: grown-ups 18 and older can sign up to vote , then go to a polling station to cast their vote for president. Whoever gets the least votes does not. These electors then vote for president and vice president. You tell them how to vote.
There are electors in the Electoral College from all 50 states and Washington D. Each state gets a certain number of electors depending on how many people live there. Bigger states get bigger teams of electors, and smaller states get smaller teams of electors. Each state has its own rules on how electors are chosen. Usually, the winning political party of the primary election picks the electors. The magic number to win is —a little over half.
In the event that neither presidential candidate receives the majority of electoral votes, the election goes to the House of Representatives to break the tie. Once everyone in a certain state votes, the Electoral College counts how many people voted for one presidential candidate and how many voted for the other. The candidate with the most popular votes wins all the electoral votes of that state.
Others say the system works just as the Framers of the Constitution planned. This has occurred a handful of times, most recently in the election. Candidate A wins the popular vote in that state by just a couple of votes but still gets all 29 electoral votes. See what would happen? If you look at just those two states, Candidate B has almost a million more popular votes than Candidate A.
But Candidate A has 23 more electoral votes—which are the ones that really count. Because of this, some Americans argue that the Electoral College system is unfair and should end. The Electoral College vote could be a two-way tie, with each main-party candidate scoring exactly votes. In such a case, the Constitution says that the presidential election would move to the House of Representatives.
There, each state would get one vote for president. Representatives from each state would work together to decide which candidate got their vote. A candidate would have to get at least 26 votes to be elected. Or there might be a popular third-party candidate who throws things off. A third party is exactly what it sounds like—a political party other than the Democratic and Republican parties. In such an election, the third-party candidate could win enough electoral votes to keep either of the major-party candidates from reaching If you think our elections could not possibly get more complicated, think again.
Fortunately, the last time the U. Congress needed to weigh in was Grades You can change it later here. Choose Your Reading Level. Grades Grades How Does the Electoral College Work? Which of these presidents lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College? Abraham Lincoln. Ronald Reagan. Barack Obama. Donald Trump. House of Representatives. Supreme Court.
Take the quiz again Take Another Quiz. Test Your Election I. The office of the president of the United States is up for grabs! Every four years, Americans get the chance to choose their leader. How much do you know about the people and the processes that will help elect the next president?
Take this quiz to find out! Match the Pet to the President. Just plain weird. How well do you know the animals that have called the White House home?
Test your knowledge with this quiz. Know Your Rights. Many Americans would say that out of all the freedoms included in the Bill of Rights, the ones in the First Amendment are the most important.
Your First Amendment rights are what allow you to be you! Election Day is less than a week away and this year looks different than ever before. Though kids cannot officially cast their ballot, they might be wondering what happens when the votes get tallied. Where do the votes go and why do they matter? The Electoral College is a body of people, known as electors, that determine who will win the role of president and live in the White House.
The Electoral College is — and was formed because of — a compromise, just like many parts of the creation of the country we know today. At that time, there was also the belief that not all citizens were informed enough to cast a vote. Because every state is a different size, each state has a different number of electors in the Electoral College. California has the most electoral votes with 55, followed by Texas with 38, and Florida with
0コメント