2020 Electoral College Copy

WY 3

WI 10

WV 5

WA 12

VA 13

UT 6

TX 38

TN 11

SD 3

SC 9

PA 20

OR 7

OK 7

OH 18

ND 3

NC 15

NY 29

NM 5

NV 6

NE 5

MT 3

MO 10

MS 6

MN 10

MI 16

ME 4

LA 8

KY 8

KS 6

IA 6

IN 11

IL 20

ID 4

HI 4

GA 16

FL 29

CO 9

CA 55

AR 6

AZ 11

AK 3

AL 9

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Electoral College Primer

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Americans cast ballots for president of the United States every four years. But, strange as it may sound, there are no national elections. Rather, we hold 51 individual elections — one in each state, and another in the District of Columbia. Each has a certain number of votes in the Electoral College, and it is the tally in the Electoral College that will determine the winner of the 2020 election, and reveal who will be president for a four-year term starting Jan. 20, 2021.

What is the Electoral College?

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What does it mean?

Piecing together an Electoral College majority is a complex task. Presidential campaigns spend countless hours devising strategies to reach the magic number of 270 electoral votes, which is a bare majority of the 538 total. Getting to that majority means spending precious time and resources in some states at the cost of neglecting others. In the final weeks of the campaign, presidential candidates must make tough choices each day about the states they woo, and those that will be abandoned. Picking the wrong states is the difference between winning the White House and being out in the political wilderness on Inauguration Day. In 2016, Hillary Clinton learned this the hard way when she paid little or no attention to three previously reliable Democratic states, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and they narrowly voted for Republican rival Donald Trump. This handed him the presidency in an historical upset.

History

The presidential election system was established by America's Founding Fathers more than 230 years ago. The Electoral College was a compromise in fierce debates between small states and large states. It was necessary to give more weight — more Electoral College votes — to more populous states, but also to make sure smaller states could genuinely influence the result. That's why the framers didn't allow the states to choose the president directly, but instead came up with a system in which each state received a number of electors based on the number of House members and senators they had on Capitol Hill. Each of the smallest states would have three electors. One such is South Dakota, which has one elector for its single member of the House, plus two for its two senators. At the other end of the scale, California, the most populous state, has 55 electors — 53 for its representatives in the House and two for its two senators.

Allocation of electoral votes

According to the U.S. Constitution, each state gets one electoral vote for each member in the House of Representatives, determined early each decade by the national census, taken every ten years. Each state also gets an electoral vote for each senator. A medium-sized state such as Georgia, with 14 House members, gets 16 electoral votes overall. Texas, with 36 House members, gets 38 electoral votes. Population shifts over time mean some states gain electoral votes and others lose them. New York peaked with 47 electoral votes in 1930, but since 1950 has consistently lost votes. Florida, has gained at least one electoral vote in every U.S. census since 1930, to reach its current 29 votes. The Constitution’s 23rd Amendment, enacted in 1961, entitles Washington, D.C. to cast electoral votes equal to the least populous state, which is three.

Electoral College splits

The presidential popular vote is interesting, but irrelevant. On five occasions the Electoral College winner has not been the candidate who won the popular vote. In four of these — 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016 — the eventual president failed to win the popular vote. And in 1824, no won a majority in the Electoral College, so the House of Representatives chose the president. Electoral College splits have occurred in two of the five presidential elections this century, producing Republican Presidents George W. Bush (2000) and Donald Trump (2016). Critics are increasingly demanding reform, or the outright abolition of the Electoral College. But that would take a constitutional amendment, requiring a two-thirds majority of states, and smaller states are naturally loathe to give up power. Calls for change face long odds.

abandoned. Picking the wrong states is the difference between winning the White House and being out in the political wilderness on Inauguration Day. In 2016, Hillary Clinton learned this the hard way when she paid little or no attention to three previously reliable Democratic states, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and they narrowly voted for Republican rival Donald Trump. This handed him the presidency in an historical upset.

which each state received a number of electors based on the number of House members and senators they had on Capitol Hill. Each of the smallest states would have three electors. One such is South Dakota, which has one elector for its single member of the House, plus two for its two senators. At the other end of the scale, California, the most populous state, has 55 electors — 53 for its representatives in the House and two for its two senators.

others lose them. New York peaked with 47 electoral votes in 1930, but since 1950 has consistently lost votes. Florida, has gained at least one electoral vote in every U.S. census since 1930, to reach its current 29 votes. The Constitution’s 23rd Amendment, enacted in 1961, entitles Washington, D.C. to cast electoral votes equal to the least populous state, which is three.

Presidents George W. Bush (2000) and Donald Trump (2016). Critics are increasingly demanding reform, or the outright abolition of the Electoral College. But that would take a constitutional amendment, requiring a two-thirds majority of states, and smaller states are naturally loathe to give up power. Calls for change face long odds.

that will be abandoned. Picking the wrong states is the difference between winning the White House and being out in the political wilderness on Inauguration Day. In 2016, Hillary Clinton learned this the hard way when she paid little or no attention to three previously reliable Democratic states, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and they narrowly voted for Republican rival Donald Trump. This handed him the presidency in an historical upset.

system in which each state received a number of electors based on the number of House members and senators they had on Capitol Hill. Each of the smallest states would have three electors. One such is South Dakota, which has one elector for its single member of the House, plus two for its two senators. At the other end of the scale, California, the most populous state, has 55 electors — 53 for its representatives in the House and two for its two senators.

them. New York peaked with 47 electoral votes in 1930, but since 1950 has consistently lost votes. Florida, has gained at least one electoral vote in every U.S. census since 1930, to reach its current 29 votes. The Constitution’s 23rd Amendment, enacted in 1961, entitles Washington, D.C. to cast electoral votes equal to the least populous state, which is three.

producing Republican Presidents George W. Bush (2000) and Donald Trump (2016). Critics are increasingly demanding reform, or the outright abolition of the Electoral College. But that would take a constitutional amendment, requiring a two-thirds majority of states, and smaller states are naturally loathe to give up power. Calls for change face long odds.

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