What you need to know about the Electoral College as 2024 race nears end

1 minggu yang lalu

The 2024 statesmanlike predetermination will travel to an extremity successful a matter of days.

Vice President Kamala Harris and erstwhile President Donald Trump stay locked successful a dormant power successful nationalist and battleground authorities polls, pinch each eyes connected who will clinch nan Electoral College.

Here is what to cognize astir nan process earlier Nov. 5.

What is nan Electoral College?

Established successful Article II of nan Constitution, nan Electoral College is nan process by which nan president of nan United States is elected.

Under nan system, each authorities is allocated a number of electoral votes wished by nan size of its legislature delegation. The states pinch nan largest number of electoral votes see California (54) and Texas (40).

Experts said nan founders debated who should beryllium trusted to take nan nation's leader, pinch immoderate urging Congress aliases authorities legislatures to determine and others advocating for a much antiauthoritarian vote.

"When they designed our system, they came up pinch nan Electoral College not because they thought it was cleanable but arsenic a measurement to get nan Constitution passed, and it satisfied nan concerns of some nan very populous states and little populous states," Rachael Cobb, a governmental subject professor astatine Suffolk University, told ABC News.

Though it's not a nonstop predetermination of nan president, they noted.

"It's really 51 abstracted elections," Barry Burden, nan head of nan Elections Research Center astatine nan University of Wisconsin-Madison, told ABC News. "Every authorities and nan District of Columbia has its ain rules for moving nan election. Then each authorities awards its electors separately, and it's up to candidates to triumph a mostly of those electors to beryllium elected president."

How do electors work?

To triumph nan statesmanlike election, a campaigner needs to seizure 270 of nan 538 full electoral votes.

Many states person a winner-takes-all approach, meaning that whichever campaigner wins nan astir votes statewide receives each its electoral votes. Two states, however, divided their electoral votes: Nebraska allocates 3 of its 5 electoral votes by territory and Maine allocates 2 of its 4 votes by district.

Electors are usually selected by nan state's governmental parties.

While nan Constitution doesn't hindrance electors to ballot for nan victor of nan celebrated ballot successful their state, galore legislatures person laws successful spot to forestall an elector from rogue -- aliases what's called a "faithless elector."

In 2020, immoderate Republican friends of Trump tried to taxable clone slates of electors to Congress to undermine President Joe Biden's victory. Several group were prosecuted for their domiciled successful nan scheme.

Why is it truthful important to this election?

Polls up of Election Day show a razor-thin title betwixt Harris and Trump.

It will apt each travel down to conscionable a fistful of plaything states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Some of those states were decided by conscionable 10,000 to 20,000 votes successful 2020, and nan margins are expected to beryllium conscionable arsenic adjacent successful 2024.

Pennsylvania is considered important to nan result of nan race, arsenic it boasts nan astir electoral votes (19) of immoderate of nan battlegrounds. The authorities cemented President Joe Biden’s triumph successful 2020, flipping bluish aft going reddish for Trump successful 2016.

If Harris wins Pennsylvania on pinch Michigan, Wisconsin and a azygous electoral ballot successful Nebraska (all of which Biden won successful 2020) she would scope 270 electoral votes moreover if she were to suffer nan remaining 4 plaything states.

If Trump wins Pennsylvania, and holds each nan states he won successful 2020, he would request to besides flip Georgia to win.

What if location is an Electoral College tie?

A 269-269 necktie is not extracurricular nan realm of possibility, though it's unlikely.

It's happened only erstwhile nether nan existent rules of nan Electoral College: nan 1824 statesmanlike election.

In that case, arsenic nan Constitution requires, Congress carried retired a "contingent election" to determine nan winner. A contingent predetermination requires nan House of Representatives to prime nan winner, pinch each authorities having 1 vote. A campaigner would request support from 26 of nan 50 states to beryllium elected.

Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi preside complete a Joint convention of Congress to certify nan 2020 Electoral College results successful Washington, DC connected January 6, 2021.

538 has analyzed nan different scenarios successful which a necktie could consequence betwixt Vice President Harris and erstwhile President Trump.

Cobb called nan anticipation of a necktie a "real concern" this twelvemonth and explained what would apt hap next.

"The House of Representatives is controlled by Republicans and truthful nan apt result successful this election, should it beryllium a necktie and should it spell to nan House of Representatives, is that nan Republican nominee would win," Cobb said.

What astir nan celebrated vote?

"It's a symbolic triumph to triumph nan celebrated vote, but it's not required," Burden said. "And doubly successful nan past 5 elections, we've seen nan celebrated ballot spell 1 guidance and nan Electoral College spell nan other. That could good hap this clip arsenic well."

Candidates who mislaid nan celebrated ballot but won nan Electoral College are John Quincy Adams successful 1824, Rutherford B. Hayes successful 1876, Benjamin Harrison successful 1888, George W. Bush successful 2000 and Trump successful 2016.

After nan 2016 election, erstwhile Hillary Clinton eclipsed Trump successful nan celebrated ballot by astir 3 cardinal but mislaid nan Electoral College, statement sparked astir whether nan strategy should change.

Pros and cons of nan Electoral College, according to experts

Those successful favour of nan Electoral College mostly statement its written into nan nation's founding archive and has mostly worked since then.

"Many aspects of nan Constitution person not been changed since 1789 and are still successful place. The Electoral College is still mostly operating nan measurement it was primitively intended. So why messiness pinch success?" Burden said.

Burden and Cobb noted it besides forces campaigns to attraction connected walking from authorities to authorities to meet voters. Without nan request to triumph electors, statesmanlike contenders would alternatively apt tally a much nationalized run and attraction connected highly-populated cities while ignoring smaller, agrarian communities.

The main reasoning against nan Electoral College is that it intends not each ballot is equal, arsenic a fistful of cardinal plaything states usually find nan victor of an election.

"Another statement is that, essentially, it has disproportionate influence," Cobb said. "That smaller states person a disproportionately higher number of electoral votes comparative to their population, meaning that individual votes successful these states transportation much weight than successful those larger states."

"The 1 person, 1 ballot thought has really taken clasp successful nan United States complete time, and nan Electoral College does not meet that," said Burden. "Votes are unequal. Some voters matter a batch more, and others matter less. And that's inconsistent pinch really each different benignant of predetermination successful nan United States."

Sumber Top News