What is the Electoral College and how does it determine the president? What to know amid popular vote results
With Election Day finally here, it's time to delve into the rules behind the Electoral College and how it decides the who will be the next president.
The Electoral College, which was first created in 1787 by the Founding Fathers, was created as a compromise between picking a president through the popular vote or through Congress. It's meant to keep one state with a large population from having control of the entire election.
Tennessee has 11 Electoral College votes, and has had this number since the 1984 election. Three and four are the most common numbers of Electoral College votes with seven states having three and seven states having four.
What is the Electoral College?
The Electoral College is how the president of the United States is elected. In the U.S., there are 538 votes up for grabs between all 50 states and the District of Columbia. To win the election, a candidate needs to secure 270 electoral votes which is the majority of the College.
According to the National Archives, before a general election, each candidate running for president chooses a slate of electors for every state. If the candidate is declared the winner in the state, their slate is then able to cast their vote in the Electoral College.
How are electoral votes determined?
Electoral votes are determined by population. The Census determines how many people there are in a state, which determines how many members of Congress a state has — which is the same number of electoral votes a state gets.
A state with a larger population gets more electoral votes than a state with a smaller population. Thus, California has the most Electoral College votes with 54. Though Washington D.C. doesn't have any members of Congress, it does have three electoral votes.
How has Tennessee voted in the past?
In the past 100 years, Tennessee has voted blue 10 times and red 15 times. The last time Tennessee voted for a Democratic leader was in 1992 and 1996 for Former President Bill Clinton.
What's the point of the popular vote?
The popular vote helps determine how many electoral votes each candidate gets. It is not meant to determine who the majority of the country wants, but rather, who each state wants as president.
After each state counts the popular vote, determining a winner, the Electoral College members for each state vote will go towards that candidate. The candidate who gets more than 270 electoral votes becomes the next president.
Most states have a winner-take-all policy, but in Nebraska and Maine, the votes are handed out based on which candidate wins each of the state’s congressional districts. In 2020, Joe Biden took one out of the five votes in Nebraska while Trump took one out of the four votes in Maine.
Can there be a tie in the Electoral College?
It is possible for two candidates to get 269 votes each, but highly unlikely. If it does happen, there is a complicated process that follows.
First, the newly elected members of the House of Representatives would gather to vote for the new president. Here, each state’s delegation would get one vote. For example, California’s 52 House of Representatives members would have one vote the same as Wyoming’s single member, according to USA.gov.
Then, the Senate would gather to vote for the new vice president, so theoretically, a Harris-Vance or a Trump-Walz administration could be possible.
In the Senate, every senator would have their own vote with a simple majority needed to choose a winner.
Electoral College map 2024: How many votes does each state have?
When was the last time a state increased the number of Electoral College votes?
There haven't been any changes to the Electoral College since the 2012 election where 18 states either gained or lost votes.
- Arizona went from 10 votes in 2008 to 11 votes in 2012.
- Florida went from 27 votes in 2008 to 29 votes in 2012.
- Georgia went from 15 votes in 2008 to 16 votes in 2012.
- Illinois went from 21 votes in 2008 to 20 votes in 2012.
- Iowa went from 7 votes in 2008 to 6 votes in 2012.
- Louisiana went from 9 votes in 2008 to 8 votes in 2012.
- Massachusetts went from 12 votes in 2008 to 11 votes in 2012.
- Michigan went from 17 votes in 2008 to 16 votes in 2012.
- Missouri went from 11 votes in 2008 to 10 votes in 2012.
- Nevada went from 5 votes in 2008 to 6 votes in 2012.
- New Jersey went from 15 votes in 2008 to 14 votes in 2012.
- New York went from 31 votes in 2008 to 29 votes in 2012.
- Ohio went from 20 votes in 2008 to 18 votes in 2012.
- Pennsylvania went from 21 votes in 2008 to 20 votes in 2012.
- South Carolina went from 8 votes in 2008 to 9 votes in 2012.
- Texas went from 34 votes in 2008 to 38 votes in 2012.
- Utah went from 5 votes in 2008 to 6 votes in 2012.
- Virginia went from 11 votes in 2008 to 12 votes in 2012.
Diana Leyva covers trending news and service journalism for The Tennessean. Contact her at Dleyva@gannett.com or follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @_leyvadiana