Quote:
Originally Posted by Lolly
Can anyone actually tell me how the election works? What are key states? I know that the winner is the the first to get 270 votes, but 270 votes from what?? It was in the paper yesterday: The American Presidential Elections for Dummies, and i still didnt understand it. lol  |
The 50 states (plus the District of Columbia) have a certain umber of delegates tot he Electoral college each. The number of delegates is the number of senators each state has + the number of representatives (to the House of Representatives). Each State returns 2 Senators to the Senate (which is the upper house of Congress), the number of representatives is determinded by the population of the state.
California has 55 votes in the Electoral college (this is the most votes of any state), but Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Vermont, Delware and District of Columbia all have only 3 votes each.
All the states, apart from Maine and Nebraska, operate a 'winner takes all' giving the entire allocation of delegates to whoever wins the popular vote in the state.
There are a total of 538 Electoral votes, so whoever gets 270 votes has won.
(I read all about the Electoral College system in this weeks Sunday Independent, so if anyone disagrees with what I wrote I am only quoting the figures from there)