2024-11-06 17:15:03
(This story was updated to add new information.)
For either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump to win the presidential election, they’ll need to secure 270 electoral votes.
Each state has the same number of electors as it has in Congress, and the District of Columbia also gets electors, leading to 538 electors. Most states will give all their electoral votes to the candidate who won the state’s popular vote.
California has 54 electoral votes, the most of any state.
More:Live California election results: Coachella Valley cities, House, Senate, propositions
Why does the Electoral College exist?
The Electoral College system is part of the U.S. Constitution and represents a compromise between whether the president should be picked by Congress or through a popular vote, USA TODAY reported.
In a Saint Louis University School of Law podcast, adjunct professor Greg Willard said the framers of the U.S. Constitution felt the “masses,” or male property owners, couldn’t be trusted in choosing the next president. Founding Father Alexander Hamilton “expressed the importance of having electors,” two legal reference librarians with the Law Library of Congress wrote in a 2012 blog post. They pointed toward the Federalist Papers as insight into the Electoral College, in which Hamilton wrote about who should determine the election and the qualities these men would have.
The Electoral College also combats a scenario where a candidate is elected thanks to their popularity in a populous region in the country and not because of broader national support, according to the Library of Congress blog post.
Pew Research Center found in a recent survey that 63% of Americans would rather that a president win by receiving the most votes nationally, not by winning through the Electoral College.
Why do we vote if the Electoral College decides?
People are urged to vote in the presidential election because it tells their respective states which candidate they want electors to vote for in December, according to the National Archives. However, there have been instances in which electors have not voted in accordance with voters, said the National Conference of State Legislatures. That included in the 2016 presidential election, according to the NCSL. Some states do require their electors to vote according to the popular vote, said the National Archives. In California, electors are selected by each party’s nominee, according to the California Secretary of State. They file a list of the 54 electors who pledge to cast their electoral vote for them.
How many electoral votes did Trump get in 2020? What about Biden?
Former President Donald Trump received 232 electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election. He lost to President Joe Biden, who won 306 electoral votes, according to the National Archives.
When do electoral votes come in?
The electors meet and vote for the president and vice president in their respective states on Dec. 17, according to the National Archives. Those votes must be received by the president of the Senate and the national archivist by the fourth Wednesday in December (that’s Dec. 25 this year). On Jan. 6, 2025, Congress will count the electoral votes and announce the results of the Electoral College, according to the National Archives.
How many electoral votes does Nevada, Oregon have? See the electoral votes per state
Here’s how many electoral votes each state and the District of Columbia has, according to the National Archives.
- Alabama: 9
- Alaska: 3
- Arizona: 11
- Arkansas: 6
- California: 54
- Colorado: 10
- Connecticut: 7
- Delaware: 3
- District of Columbia: 3
- Florida: 30
- Georgia: 16
- Hawaii: 4
- Idaho: 4
- Illinois: 19
- Indiana: 11
- Iowa: 6
- Kansas: 6
- Kentucky: 8
- Louisiana: 8
- Maine: 4
- Maryland: 10
- Massachusetts: 11
- Michigan: 15
- Minnesota: 10
- Mississippi: 6
- Missouri: 10
- Montana: 4
- Nebraska: 5
- Nevada: 6
- New Hampshire: 4
- New Jersey: 14
- New Mexico: 5
- New York: 28
- North Carolina: 16
- North Dakota: 3
- Ohio: 17
- Oklahoma: 7
- Oregon: 8
- Pennsylvania: 19
- Rhode Island: 4
- South Carolina: 9
- South Dakota: 3
- Tennessee: 11
- Texas: 40
- Utah: 6
- Vermont: 3
- Virginia: 13
- Washington: 12
- West Virginia: 4
- Wisconsin: 10
- Wyoming: 3
Paris Barraza is a trending reporter covering California news at The Desert Sun. Reach her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.
