For the benefit of us numbskulls, please explain the U.S electoral college vote system.

[advancebooking]

Im not an American thankgod. But Im closely following the election and confess to not understanding the electoral college vote system. 

 

Im not a smart person and can hardly even drive between thai cities. 

 

I googled the topic but didnt understand it. 

 

Can you explain it briefly in uncomplicated language and explain how is it that Hillary Clinton won popular vote but lost the election due to the electoral college vote. It seems that the U.S has fake elections same as Thailand when Mr Pita was voted in but never made it to be the PM. 

 

thanks

[Mazungu]

The Electoral College is not a physical place. It is a process where the US decides who wins its presidential election. In just about every country that has elections the winner is the candidate who gets the most votes by the people. However, in the US the presidential candidates are not elected directly by popular vote but through the Electoral College process. 

 

The process of using electors comes from the US Constitution. It was a compromise between a popular vote by citizens and a vote in Congress.

 

So instead of the winner being whoever got the most votes nationally it comes down to who wins 270 electoral votes. Each state is assigned an electoral vote count basically by its population (it's actually by the amount of representatives and senators in each state). The bigger population states have more electoral votes -- California, New York, Texas, Florida, etc. So instead of a national race it comes down to a state-by-state race. If you win the state by one vote you get all of that states' electoral votes. Thus the votes are not divided by a proportional vote count from the state. It's a winner take all. There are 538 total electoral votes. So you need to win 270 votes (one vote majority) to win the presidency. The US is a very divided country so people will call some states Blue states and others Red states. The Blue states normally vote Democrat and the Red states Republican. The states that are evenly mixed are called Purple states or Swing states. That's why it's so important for each party to win the Swing states of Wisconsin, MIchigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. In the end it comes down to tactics and counting electoral votes by state. Each side will add up their safe states electoral votes (ones they already know will vote Blue or Red because more Democrats or Republicans live there) and then they must pick the Swing states they need to win for the Democrat candidate (Harris\) or the Republican candidate (Trump) to get to 270 and win the election. 

 

In 2016 Hillary Clinton won the most votes nationally but lost in the electoral college. It came down to a state-by-state race. When you added up the electoral votes in the states Clinton won she had fewer than Trump even though she had won the most vote nationally. 

 

This article from the BBC will explain more. 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53558176

[Jingthing]

I was recently reading about this and found an interesting quote which said the founders designed the electoral college because they were afraid of "too much" democracy. Ironic because if Trump wins, the U.S. will have NO democracy.

[riclag]

Here no AN  copy & paste rule violations!

For those who disagree, which many

on the left do !

 

 

The Electoral College process is in the U.S. Constitution. It would take a constitutional amendment to change the process. For more information, contact your U.S. senator or your U.S. representative.

 

 

 

https://www.usa.gov/electoral-college

Edited October 30 by riclag

[Captain Monday]

There are split electoral votes possible in Nebraska and Maine. 
 

https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/nebraska-and-maine-split-their-electoral-vote-is-it-a-better-system-than-winner-take-all/

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Electoral_College

 

 All states except Maine and Nebraska use a party block voting, or general ticket method, to choose their electors, meaning all their electors go to one winning ticket. Maine and Nebraska choose one elector per congressional district and two electors for the ticket with the highest statewide vote. The electors meet and votein December, and the inaugurations of the president and vice president take place in January.

[jerrymahoney]

9 hours ago, advancebooking said:

Can you explain it briefly in uncomplicated language and explain how is it that Hillary Clinton won popular vote but lost the election due to the electoral college vote.

If candidate A wins their states by very narrow vote margin, but candidate B wins their states by very large margin, then it is easy outcome that candidate A wins the electoral college vote but candidate B wins the popular vote.
 

[advancebooking]

16 hours ago, Mazungu said:

The Electoral College is not a physical place. It is a process where the US decides who wins its presidential election. In just about every country that has elections the winner is the candidate who gets the most votes by the people. However, in the US the presidential candidates are not elected directly by popular vote but through the Electoral College process. 

 

The process of using electors comes from the US Constitution. It was a compromise between a popular vote by citizens and a vote in Congress.

 

So instead of the winner being whoever got the most votes nationally it comes down to who wins 270 electoral votes. Each state is assigned an electoral vote count basically by its population (it's actually by the amount of representatives and senators in each state). The bigger population states have more electoral votes -- California, New York, Texas, Florida, etc. So instead of a national race it comes down to a state-by-state race. If you win the state by one vote you get all of that states' electoral votes. Thus the votes are not divided by a proportional vote count from the state. It's a winner take all. There are 538 total electoral votes. So you need to win 270 votes (one vote majority) to win the presidency. The US is a very divided country so people will call some states Blue states and others Red states. The Blue states normally vote Democrat and the Red states Republican. The states that are evenly mixed are called Purple states or Swing states. That's why it's so important for each party to win the Swing states of Wisconsin, MIchigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. In the end it comes down to tactics and counting electoral votes by state. Each side will add up their safe states electoral votes (ones they already know will vote Blue or Red because more Democrats or Republicans live there) and then they must pick the Swing states they need to win for the Democrat candidate (Harris\) or the Republican candidate (Trump) to get to 270 and win the election. 

 

In 2016 Hillary Clinton won the most votes nationally but lost in the electoral college. It came down to a state-by-state race. When you added up the electoral votes in the states Clinton won she had fewer than Trump even though she had won the most vote nationally. 

 

This article from the BBC will explain more. 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53558176

Thanks for the info. I kind of more understand it now but had to read it several times. Very complicated to understand being a non american. Why don't they abolish this odd system? 

[Mazungu]

9 minutes ago, advancebooking said:

Thanks for the info. I kind of more understand it now but had to read it several times. Very complicated to understand being a non american. Why don't they abolish this odd system? 

I agree they should abolish it. It's complicated and gives too much power to the sparsely populated states. I hope they do abolish it in the future. 

 

One easier way to keep an eye on who's winning on November 5th -- if Harris wins the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania she'll be president (unless she loses the one vote in Nebraska which is unlikely). If Trump wins the states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia he'll be president. 

[Mazungu]

2 hours ago, advancebooking said:

Thanks for the info. I kind of more understand it now but had to read it several times. Very complicated to understand being a non american. Why don't they abolish this odd system? 

This 15 minute video should help you understand the state of the race. This guy (like many others) says it comes down to who wins Pennsylvania. His electoral map with the states and electoral votes for each state should help you understand the electoral process better.