What does the electoral college do in December exactly?

Answer 1

The entire Electoral College does not meet together in one place. 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. Senate pages bring in the boxes containing each state's certified vote and place them on tables in front of the Senators and Representatives. Each house appoints two tellers to count the vote (normally one member of each political party). Relevant portions of the Certificate of Vote are read for each state, in alphabetical order. The electoral votes are officially tabulated at the joint session of Congress and the winner of the election is officially declared. The sitting vice-president is expected to preside at the joint session.

Answer 2

Electoral votes in the U.S. Electoral College determine the President and Vice 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.