EVEN before votes were cast for the November 3 US presidential election, we knew one thing for sure.
President Donald Trump will lose the popular vote to his Democratic challenger, former vice-president Joe Biden. The estimate is that Trump will lose by 3.5 million votes or more.
But just like in 2016, when then candidate Trump lost to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million votes, he was able to gain the White House by winning more than 270 electoral votes. Trump could become the first president in US history to be re-elected after losing the popular vote twice, by winning the Electoral College.
Logic would say, how could someone who the majority of voters did not support still become president?
It is because of an antiquated voting process that has been around since the beginning of the establishment of the US, called the Electoral College.
It can be found in Article II, Section 1 and Clause 2 of the constitution, where it requires each state legislature to determine how electors for that state are chosen, and it disqualifies any person holding federal office, either elected or appointed, from being an elector.
Simply put, there are a total of 538 electoral votes, and here is the breakdown:
We start with the 435 members of the House of Representatives.
Then, add the 100 senators.
Then, comes the three electors given to the District of Columbia.
The candidate who wins 270 votes or more is named president of the US.
Now, every four years, Electoral College delegates get together after the November presidential election to take a formal vote in the second week of December, or about a month after the election.
In all but two states – Nebraska and Maine – the candidate who secures the majority of votes wins that state’s electoral votes.
In Nebraska and Maine, electoral votes are assigned by proportional representation, meaning the top vote-getter wins two electoral votes (for the two senators), while the remaining electoral votes are allocated congressional district by congressional district.
These rules make it possible for both candidates to receive electoral votes from Nebraska and Maine, unlike the winner-takes-all system in the other 48 states.
So, when you are watching the election results on November 3, watch for who wins Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Whoever wins the majority of those seven states will get more than 270 votes. If it is Trump, then he gets a second term. But if those states break for Biden, we will have a new president. – The Vibes, October 31, 2020
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning broadcaster who has covered every presidential election since 1976. He is the US correspondent for The Vibes
