What is The Electoral College and Why Does It Matter In Presidential Elections?

The United States of America is one of the most developed and influential countries. On multiple occasions, people have found it amazing and unique, but the concept of the Electoral College has shocked many, especially its involvement in the US elections. Unlike others, the US does not announce the president with the citizens or popular votes. Instead, they use a unique entity to determine the US president.

What is the Electoral College?

The Electoral College is made up of delegates or electors and officially elects the vice president and president of the country. Each constituent their state and collectively chooses the US President. Interestingly, each state has a different number of electors based on their population. The higher the population, the higher the elector count, which will vote to choose the president.

There are 538 delegates in total, out of which, 435 representatives, 100 senators (two selected from each state), and 3 electors from Washington, DC. Each delegator casts one vote, and the presidential candidate should win at least 270 votes to become president.

With the Electoral College, many are disappointed and questioning why they are even voting when their votes have no significance. However, that is not the entire case, as every individual vote counts here, and every single voter determines what their entire state will vote for.

In simpler terms, when people appear for votes, they vote to choose the electors of their states who promised to vote for a particular candidate. For example, in the US Presidential election 2024, the people who wanted Donald Trump to win voted for an electoral candidate who promised to vote for him in the Electoral College. Interestingly, just a few hours ago, Donald Trump won the US elections.

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Regardless, the voters play a significant role in choosing the country’s leader by choosing the elector. However, this method of choosing the elector may vary from state to state, but the most common method is the citizen’s vote.

Electoral College Basic Principle and Its Importance

As mentioned above, popular votes signify what a state would vote for. However, the biggest part of this Electoral College is that the winners take all, which means that the winner of the people’s votes will win the entire state’s electoral vote. A prime example of this is the 2020 election incident. As per that. California has 55 electoral votes (high population), and as Joe Biden won the citizen’s votes, he received all 55 electoral votes, and the same happens with most states.  As a result, he became the 46th US President.

However, not all states follow this pattern, but most do. It is the way to bring equal opportunity in the US elections because of the population difference between states. More importantly, the founding fathers built this structure to include the popular voters’ choice of president and Congress’s choice for president. It was the way to create a balance between the states so that even the smaller states have an impact on the elections. More importantly, this way, they bring attention to the diverse areas and make the candidate appeal to all states, including rural, not just to developed areas.

What’s Wrong With This System?

This presidential election system was introduced about two decades ago, and many people, including voters, have nitpicked. With this system, even the candidates who have lost the popular vote become the president, as the elector’s votes signified their win. The prime example is Donald Trump’s win in the 2016 elections and George W. Bush’s in 2000.

There are allegations that this only benefits the Republican party, so the opposition has often pushed to introduce changes. At present, the Polymarket data indicates the Republicans might win Congress after the Senate win in the US election 2024.

Sadly, its biggest drawback is that it gives some states more power to pick the president. Regardless, this still exists and is used for the election outcome, as changing this means changing the constitution.

Conclusion

With a unique election system, the US has shown its unique approaches. The Electoral College is a unique and complex election system that uses electors to determine the US President. However, this does not mean that the citizen votes play no significant role. Instead of electing the president or vice president, they elect the electors who support their preferred candidates.  After that, each state’s electors (which vary in count per state’s population) vote for the president.

Overall, it is time-consuming and unfair at some point, as the state winners get all the votes. More importantly, the results are declared much after the popular votes, making it a time-consuming process. However, people often suggest abolishing it and opting for the popular vote, but that is still in discussion as it is a big constitutional change that has been in use for two decades.