Harris vs Trump How is the President elected and why does the person with the majority not always win?
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- Author title, bbc news world
In a United States presidential election, the winner cannot be the candidate who receives the most votes from the public.
And the President of the country is not elected directly by the voters, but by an organization called the Electoral College.
We explain what this system consists of.
What is the Electoral College?
When Americans go to the presidential elections on November 5, most will vote for Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump.
But those votes won’t directly determine who wins. This is a state-by-state race rather than a national race.
so, Winning in any one of the 50 states means that the candidate gets all the electoral votes of that state.That is, all votes contribute to the Electoral College. This number varies from state to state, as it is determined based on population.
The Electoral College has in mind total 538 votesand declaring himself the winner of the elections and therefore President, A candidate needs to score 270 or more marks,
His running mate becomes Vice President.
How does this work?
Each state has a specific number of electoral votes, roughly corresponding to the size of its population.
California has the most, with 54, while a handful of less populous states like Wyoming, Alaska, and North Dakota (and the nation’s capital, Washington, DC) have three.
With very few exceptions, Each state awards all of its Electoral College votes to the candidate who wins its region.That is, one who has secured a majority of the popular vote at the state level.
For example, if a candidate wins 50.1% of the vote in Texas, he or she is awarded that state’s 40 electoral votes.
A candidate who wins a state with an overwhelming majority will receive the same number of electoral votes as if he had won by a single vote.
Is it possible to get majority at the national level but lose the elections?
Yes, it is possible to win elections without getting a majority at the national level to prevail in some major states,
This is what happened to the Republicans Donald Trump in 2016Who was declared the winner despite receiving almost three million fewer votes than her rival Democrat Hillary Clinton.
And in 2000, Republican George W. Bush defeated Democrat Al Gore, despite Al Gore leading him in the popular vote by half a million.
Only three other presidents have been elected without winning the popular vote, all of them in the 19th century.
Why is it called Electoral College?
By “college” he means the group of people who are responsible for casting votes in the state, known as electors,
This system is used only to elect the President; All other US elections are decided by popular vote.
How many votes does each state contribute?
Do voters have to vote for the candidate who has won their state?
In some states, voters can theoretically vote for their favorite candidate, regardless of who the voters supported.
But in practice, voters They almost always vote for the candidate who gets the most votes, Be it 10 more or ten lakhs.
If a voter votes against the presidential candidate winning in his state, he is described as an “infidel”.
In 2016, seven Electoral College votes were cast this way, but they did not change the outcome of the election.
In some states, “faithful” voters can be fined or prosecuted.
What happens if there is a tie in the Electoral College?
If candidates have an equal number of votes in the Electoral College, this is what happens the house of RepresentativesThe lower house of the US Parliament, which elects the President.
However this has happened only once, in 1824.
Given the current dominance of the Republican and Democratic parties, it is extremely not likely Let it happen today.
Why was this system chosen?
When the United States Constitution was written In 1787, national popular vote to elect president was almost impossible Due to the size of the country and lack of reliable communication methods.
Therefore, the framers of the Constitution created the Electoral College system.
This was a popular decision in the southern states, where slaves constituted a large portion of the population.
These could not vote, but were counted as part of the population, which had great influence on the southern states.
image Source, getty images
What are its advantages and disadvantages?
- Smaller states remain important for candidates.
- Candidates do not need to travel across the country but can focus on major states.
- Recalculation is easy.
- The winner of the popular vote may lose the election.
- Some voters feel that their individual vote does not matter.
- So-called “pendulum stages” concentrate a lot of power.
What are “pendulum states”?
Most states always vote for the same party in every election.
That’s why presidential candidates focus their campaign efforts on specific “swing states”, also known as swing states. HingeHe they could lean either wayInstead of trying to win votes across the country.
The main disputed states in 2024 are Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin,
What are fake voters?
It’s a term many Americans are familiar with in 2020, when Republicans supporter trump In seven states they will create their own electorates attempt to overturn the results of Election.
In some cases, they created and signed official-looking documents or arrived at state capitals on December 14, when voters across the country gathered to officially cast their votes.
Some of the people involved have faced legal proceedings and the investigation is still ongoing.
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