Voters are already casting ballots for local offices, state legislatures, governors, every member of the U.S. House and one-third of the U.S. Senate as Election Day approaches.

They also choose the next president, but with a twist: Americans will actually select the voters, who in turn will choose Ms. Kamala Harris or Donald Trump and their fellow candidates.

Yes, there are really two elections: one in which the electors cast their ballots and the second in which the electoral votes are cast and counted. Or, in other words, the winner of the most national votes is not guaranteed victory.

That’s the way it’s been done for more than 200 years, and it’s likely to last, even though most Americans would prefer the winner of the most national votes to ascend to the presidency.

What is the Electoral College?

The Electoral College consists of 538 elected members, one for each US Senator and US Representative, plus three for Washington, DC.

A presidential candidate must win a simple majority of these (270) to win the White House. Electors meet and vote for president and vice president in mid-December.

With an even total number of voters, a tie is possible (269-269). In that case – which happened in 1801 – the decision goes to the newly elected House of Representatives, with each state voting as a single unit. The newly elected Senate decides on the vice president, with one vote for each senator.

“This is a very unique and customized system that I don’t think anyone would recreate today,” said Ms. Wendy Weiser, Vice President for Democracy at NYU Law School’s Brennan Center for Justice.

Why do we have it?

In the summer of 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia were deadlocked over how to elect a president.

Instead of electing a president by a vote in Congress or a popular vote of the citizens—who at the time were all white, landowning—they compromised and agreed to have electors.

The delegates believed that the voters would ensure that only a qualified person became president. They also believed that this approach would serve as a check on the public, which could be easily swayed by misinformation, especially from foreign governments.

The idea of ​​electors boosted the Southern states, where the enslaved population added to the number of electoral votes allocated. It also elevated smaller states in the sense that candidates could not simply gather votes in the most populous cities and states and ignore the rest of the country.

How does the Electoral College work?

Each state’s number of electors is equal to the number of senators and representatives in its congressional delegation, so the minimum is three.

In 48 states, the winner takes all the electoral votes. In Maine and Nebraska, two electoral votes are allocated to the winner of the popular vote, and each remaining electoral vote is awarded to the winner of the popular vote in each of the state’s congressional districts.

After a state’s voters have certified their vote in December, they send a certificate to Congress. Congress then counts and certifies the January 6 vote.

The Vice President presides over a special session as the results from each state are recorded.

Who are the voters?

State political parties choose their electors every four years in the months leading up to Election Day. Some do this during their party conventions.

“When we vote, even if we don’t see their names, we vote for those voters,” said John Kowal, co-author of “The People’s Constitution.”

The electoral roll reform act, which became law in 2022, designates the governor as the one who certifies the state’s voters. The bipartisan legislation clarified how votes are counted and disputes are handled, making it much more difficult to submit a list of fraudulent voters.

Does the system work?

The Electoral College has largely reflected the will of the people, but twice in the last six elections, candidates lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College and the White House.

The results don’t always line up because a single elector in a large state has less influence on the Electoral College than a single elector in a small state.

Overrepresented rural states are now more Republican, so Republicans can more easily win the Electoral College without winning a majority of the national vote. This is what happened in 2000 and 2016.

With the results inevitable in solidly Democratic and Republican states, the candidates end up putting much of their resources into a few competitive states.

The rest are overlooked, which is the very opposite of what the Electoral College was designed to do.

Could the system change?

Yes, through a constitutional amendment.

Starting that process would require two-thirds approval in both the House and Senate or a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of state legislatures.

Three-fourths of the state legislatures or three-fourths of the state conventions would then have to ratify the amendment.

Another possible change could come through the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. This is an agreement between member states for their voters to cast their votes for the winner of the national popular vote, and not based on the results in their own state.

Seventeen states and Washington DC signed on, representing a total of 209 electoral votes. However, for the pact to enter into force, enough states must sign to reach the winning sum of 270 electoral votes. NYTIMES