The Electoral College

The President is chosen not by national popular vote but by electors. Each state receives as many electors as it has members of Congress, its House seats plus two for its senators, and the Twenty-third Amendment gives the District of Columbia three. That makes 538 in all, and a candidate needs a majority, 270, to win. The framers settled on the system after rejecting election by Congress, which would have made the President dependent on the legislature, and direct popular election, which smaller and slaveholding states opposed.

The Constitution leaves it to each state legislature to decide how its electors are chosen. Every state now uses a popular vote, and 48 states and the District award all their electors to the statewide winner. Maine and Nebraska give two electors to the statewide winner and one to the winner of each congressional district. Voters technically choose a slate of electors pledged to a candidate. In Chiafalo v. Washington in 2020 the Supreme Court held that states may require electors to vote for the candidate they pledged to support.

Electors meet in their state capitals in mid-December to cast separate ballots for President and Vice President, and Congress counts the votes in a joint session on January 6, with the Vice President presiding. The Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022, passed after the events of January 6, 2021, clarified that the Vice President's role is purely ministerial and raised the threshold for congressional objections to one fifth of each chamber. If no candidate wins 270, the House chooses the President with each state delegation casting one vote, as it did in 1801 and 1825.

Because electoral votes are awarded state by state, a candidate can win the presidency while losing the national popular vote, which happened in 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016. Campaigns concentrate on a handful of closely divided swing states. Supporters argue the system protects federalism, smaller states, and stable two-party politics. Critics argue it makes some votes count more than others. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, under which states pledge their electors to the national vote winner once states with 270 votes join, has been adopted by states holding about 209 electoral votes.