In a Presidential election nowadays, winning the popular vote in a state is the first step in getting "Electoral College" (E.C.) votes.
State legislatures now use two ways of converting their popular vote into E.C. votes. All but two use the winner-take-all or "unit rule" that says the winner of the largest number of popular votes gets all the state E.C. votes.
Each state has the E.C. votes of its US Representatives plus its two US Senators. The winner of the popular vote in the "unit rule" cases gets all that state's votes. That's the answer for 49 out of 51 places voting in the Electoral College.
Maine and Nebraska use a "District Plan". They count the popular vote in each Congressional District and then award the winner in each of those one E.C. vote. Then a two-E.C. vote bonus goes to the winner of the state-wide vote. For instance in Nebraska, Mr. McCain won two districts, Mr. Obama won one district, and Mr. McCain won the state-wide vote. Nebraska's E.C. vote was split: McCain 4, Obama 1.
The total E.C. votes amount to 538, equal to the 435 in the House of Representatives, plus the 100 in the US Senate, plus 3 for a total Electoral College count for the District of Columbia. To be elected President of the US in the Electoral College, it takes a majority of 270 E.C. votes.
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in the presidential election, the popular vote of the state is the then the electorate, and depending on how many elector votes the state has (depending on popularity) that's how many votes the candiate gets. so if a large state like California has only a 10% difference, it still goes by the popular vote. if a candidate gets many larger states, but not by a vast amount, it then results with the loss of the popular vote but a win of the elector vote.
electoral vote is the population of the state and and the amount of citizen that live state and popular votes is the amount of citizen that vote for a presidential election
* Electoral College votes are the votes of the Electors in each state. when we vote, it's called the Popular Vote. You can find the amount of electors your state has by this: Each state has 2 senators+ the number of representatives your state has= the amount of state electors you have. The electors cast the final votes for the election.
In Nebraska and Maine, whoever gets the most popular votes in each congressional district gets one vote. The other two votes per state go to whoever gets the most popular votes in the whole state. In each of the other 48 states and in D.C., whoever gets the most popular votes gets 100% of the electoral votes.
The direct vote of citizens to elect the President of the United States is called the Popular Vote. The race for President of the United States also takes into account Electoral Votes. Electoral Votes are given to candidates who win the Popular Vote in a particular state.