Like healthcare and jobs, the Electoral College pops up in discussions around water coolers every four years among people who wonder how their votes work or if they count at all.
Events like the 2000 presidential election, when Al Gore won the popular vote but George W. Bush won the election, only add to the confusion and mystery that surround the process that will determine our new president in five days.
To understand how the Electoral College works, one first must comprehend that there is no direct popular vote; the candidate who has the most votes at the end of the day isn’t necessarily the one who wins.
Elections are decided by the Electoral College, which refers not to a school or a building but rather to the total number of electoral votes from the 50 states.
There are 538 electoral votes altogether; each state’s electoral votes are equal to the number of people they have in Congress, and that is based on the state population. (Pennsylvania, for instance, has 21 electoral votes.)
A candidate who wins the majority of the popular voters in a state gets all of that state’s electoral votes.
Electors — regular folks who are unaffiliated with the federal government or politicians — mail the official votes to the Senate, to be counted before Inauguration Day.
To actually win the presidency, a candidate must amass at least 270 electoral votes, which is why Bush and John Kerry have campaigned so hard in so-called tossup states (with their tossup electoral votes), including Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio.
In the event of an electoral tie, Congress picks the president.
Although the numbers and the jargon can cause a few headaches among even experienced voters, one fact remains: Your vote does count. You can help decide who wins your state’s prized electoral votes.
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Registered voters can find their polling place by visiting www.hallwatch.org/elections/wardbook/pollingplace and entering their address. The service is available 24 hours a day.
