How are electoral college votes cast. Who casts them and are they determined state by state on the basis of that states popular vote?

Answer 1

Electoral votes in the Electoral College determine the President of the United States. Every state and the District of Columbia are awarded a certain number of electoral votes with which to elect the President. Each state has electoral votes equal to the total of the 2 representative the state has in the U.S. Senate plus the number of representative the state has in the House of Representatives. The electors in each state are elected in the presidential election and swear in advance to vote for the presidential candidate who wins the election in their state. Electors meet in their respective state capitals (electors for the District of Columbia meet within the District) on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December, at which time they cast their electoral votes on separate ballots for president and vice-president. Each state then forwards the election results to the President of the U.S. Senate, the Archivist of the United States, the state's Secretary of State, and the chief judge of the United States district court where those electors met. A joint session of Congress takes place on January 6 in the calendar year immediately following the meetings of the presidential electors. The electoral votes are officially tabulated at the joint session of Congress and the winner of the election is officially declared.