Are we really voting for the president? Not. The ballots show the names of the candidates running for president; however, we do not directly vote them. The national popular vote doesn’t matter. The actual voting for president and vice president is done by state-appointed electors, who are collectively called the Electoral College. These electors are either Republican members or Democratic party members who have pledged to vote for their party’s respective candidate.

How many electors does a state have? Each state is allocated electors based on the number of representatives it has (based on population) plus two for its two senators. Ohio has 17 electoral votes. This system gives greater representation per capita to smaller states. Wyoming, the smallest state, has one elector for every 195,495 people, and California, the largest state, has one voter for every 720,181 people. Washington, DC gets three electoral votes, bringing it to 538 votes.

How do states allocate their electoral votes to candidates? Almost all states allocate all their electoral votes to the candidate who gets the most votes in their state. Nebraska and Maine split their electoral votes based on the popular vote in that state.

Does the Electoral College always choose the candidate who gets the most votes across the country? Not. Five times the candidate who won the Electoral College was the loser of the popular vote. Most recently, in 2016, Hillary Clinton won 2.8 million more votes than Donald Trump in the popular vote. Trump won the Electoral College in a landslide 304 to 227.

Why do candidates spend most of their time campaigning in only eight states? The result in 42 states is predictable. Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nebraska are competitive enough to change the outcome in the Electoral College.

When will we know who is elected president? Election day this year is November 5. Television screens will fill with maps showing red (Republican) and blue (Democratic) states as partial vote counts arrive. The eight variable states are usually shown in light red or light blue to indicate predictions of how they will fare depending on the different ones. scenarios for each candidate to get 270 electoral votes to win. Uncertainty is to be expected. Mail-in ballots take time to verify and count, and recounts may be necessary in states where voting is extremely narrow. Legal challenges are already being made. Thus, the result may not be known for several days.

What is the Electoral College calendar? On December 11, the governor of each state signs the Certificate of Finding to name the electors chosen in the general election. On December 17, electors in each state gather to cast their votes for president and vice president. On January 6, Congress convenes to certify the vote. Under the Electoral College Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022, Congress can only accept the certificate from each state’s governor. Congress counts the votes cast by each state. If no candidate receives a majority, the election goes to the House of Representatives, where each state has one vote.

Should the Electoral College be abolished? The current system is undemocratic. Look at conservative urban voters and liberal rural votes. To get electoral votes, candidates spend almost all of their time campaigning in swing states. These eight states combined have under 19% of the total US population. Electing the president by direct popular vote would force candidates to compete for every vote in every state.

Jacqueline Richey, member of Living Democracy: Engaging Citizens, a local citizens’ group. Our mission is to inform and educate the Mid-Ohio Valley about how local, state and federal government works and how citizens can be involved in making our democracy work. Join us on the third Wednesday of every month. [email protected] and facebook/speak for yourself also vote Living Democracy Youtube channel