How does the US Electoral College work?

Team Udayavani, Nov 5, 2020, 12:14 PM IST

In US, the president is not chosen directly by the voters, but by the Electoral College. When Americans go to the polls in presidential elections they’re actually voting for a group of electors who make up the electoral college.

Electoral College

As reported by The Wire, ‘Electoral College’ is the term given to the body of individuals who are selected or elected to be “electors”.

With no constitutional right to vote for the president or his running mate, US voters are basically voting for presidential electors on the general ballot. These electors then vote for the president and vice president of the US

The word “college” refers to a group of people with a shared task. These people are electors and their job is to choose the president and vice-president. The electoral college meets every four years, a few weeks after election day, to carry out that task.

There are a total of 538 electoral votes, or electors, meaning a presidential candidate needs to secure 270 to win. The votes of the electoral college will be counted in the US Congress in a joint session on January 6.