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In short: US Presidents are not directly elected by the individual voters but by the Electoral College, whose members pledge their votes to the candidate who won the popular vote in their State. In most States, the candidate with the majority of votes statewide receives all of that State's electoral votes; however, some States allow electoral votes to be divided between candidates.

The number of electors is based on the state's population. The states with the greatest population have the most electoral votes. When the voter casts a vote for president, in reality the vote goes to one of the presidential electors designated by the candidate in that state. The number of electors for each state equals the number of senators and representatives that state has in Congress. Although the number can change based on the census. The candidate who receives the most votes receives all the electoral votes in that state. The candidate with a majority of the electoral votes is elected to office. The electors gather in Washington, DC, in December and cast their ballots based on the results of the November election. If no candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes, the election of president is determined by the House of Representatives.

Presidential elections are held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November every four years. After the results have been tallied, the Electoral College meets on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December to cast their votes. In most elections, the electors will vote for the candidates that the people chose through the popular vote. However, this is not required by law. The Founding Fathers felt that there would potentially be times when the people would not know which candidate would be the best president, and as a result the electors can choose to vote against the popular vote. Today this is rare, but it is possible.

Some states have made laws that require the electors to vote according to the will of the people. Other states have separate groups of electors for each party, and these electors are bound to vote for the their party's candidate. When the votes are tallied, these states send the appropriate electors to the December vote, thus ensuring that the choice the people made is followed. However, not all states have these provisions, so it is entirely possible for an elector to vote for a candidate that did not win the popular vote in her state.The Electoral College is composed of 538 electors who are tasked with the responsibility of deciding the President and Vice-President of the US.

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Related Questions

Who elects the members of the Texas electoral Collage?

The members of the electoral college who are from Texas are elected by the registered voters of Texas, just as every other member of the electoral college is elected by the registered voters of his/her state. The public has never elected a U. S. President. When you think you are voting for president, you are actually voting for the people who will elect the president.


What is the ratio of electoral votes in Texas compared to all the states in the US in the 2008 election?

Texas has 34 of the 538 Electoral Votes in the Electoral College.


How are Texas' electoral votes divided?

Texas casts its electoral votes in the U.S. Electoral College on a winner-take-all basis. The winner of the presidential election on Election Day in Texas gets all of Texas' electoral votes.


Who is winning the electoral college vote in texas?

Texas cast its 38 electoral votes for Donald Trump in the 2016 election.


How many electoral college members Texas has in 2010?

38


What candidate should get the electoral vote from Texas?

McCain will receive all 34 Electoral College Votes. Texas is a winner take all State.


Can Trump win by a landslide and still lose the election due to electoral?

I don't know about getting a "landslide" popular vote and losing in the Electoral College, but candidates have won the popular vote then lost the electoral college. In 2000, George W Bush had 540,000 fewer votes than Al Gore, but won the Electoral College majority. When a candidate wins the popular vote of a state, all the electoral votes of that state go to that candidate. The more populous states have more electoral votes, but the count is not dependent upon the number of voters who show up at the polls. So the number of actual voters per Electoral College delegate can vary considerably depending upon the voter turnout of each state. To try to illustrate this, California could have only 3 voters show up with 2 voting for Hillary. All 55 Electoral College votes would go to Hillary. Texas (38), Arizona (11) and Idaho (4) could also each have 3 voters (2 Trump vs 1 Hillary) with a total of 6 going to Trump and 3 to Hillary. Between the 4 states, the popular vote would be 7 for Trump and 5 for Hillary, but the electoral vote be 55 for Hillary and vs 53 for Trump.


How many US electoral college delegates are there for Texas?

Senators+Representatives=Electors, so; 2+32=34


What is the total number of electoral votes of the state Florida New York California Illinois and Texas?

Florida has 27, New York has 31, California has 55, Illinois has 21 and Texas has 34. That is a total of 168 Electoral College votes.


How many electoral college votes does Texas have for 2012 general election?

The number of electoral votes for each state is equal to the sum of its number of Senators and its number of Representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives. Based on the 2010 Census, there are 36 members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas. Therefore, Texas had 38 electoral votes in the 2012 election.


Which U.S. state has the most votes in the electoral college because it has the largest population?

illinois pennsylvenia texas california ohio


When was the last time Texas cast its Electoral College vote in favor of the Democratic candidate?

1976 - Jimmy Carter.

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