Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Evoke
watching all the different results, I realise that I have no clue how american elections work. it appears they don't just count the votes of each individual, there's various states and some states get more votes than others (I assume that's a size thing), and there is house and all those other elections.. i'm lost :/
|
Quote:
What is the ``electoral college''? What is its role in the election of the President and Vice President of the United States?
The President and Vice President of the United States are elected by electors, individuals who are chosen in the November general election in Presidential election years. The electors meet in their respective States on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December to vote, separately, for President and Vice President. Although the term does not appear in the Constitution, the electors are collectively known as the electoral college.
Each State is assigned a number of electors equal to the total of its Senators and Representatives in the U.S. Congress. The District of Columbia, under the 23rd Amendment, chooses a number equal to that assigned to the least populous State (three). The electoral college currently comprises 538 members when constituted. The Constitution requires that candidates for President and Vice President receive an absolute majority of electoral votes in order to be elected (270 of the current total of 538).
|
From here:
http://usinfo.state.gov/infousa/gove...alProcess.html
In other words, if the US population picks more blue guys than red guys in their state, then there'll be more blue 'electors' when they come around to voting for the President in December.
The more senators and congress reps a state has, the more electoral college votes it has (eg: NY has 31, California 55, Maine 4 etc).