By Sekaggya Seka Moses
What is the Electoral College?
The Electoral College is a process established by the Founding Fathers as a compromise between electing the President by Congressional vote and popular vote.
It’s not a physical place, but rather a system where each state gets a certain number of electoral votes based on its number of members in the House of Representatives plus two Senators.
Currently, there are 538 electors, and a candidate needs at least 270 electoral votes to win the presidency .
How Does it Work?
1. Election Day: People vote for President and Vice President.
2. Electors Appointed: State Executives appoint electors chosen in the general election.
3. Electors Vote: Electors meet to select the President and Vice President.
4. Congress Counts the Vote: Congress meets to count electoral votes and declare the winner.
Key Dates and Events
– November 5, 2024 – Election Day: Voters choose electors.
– December 11, 2024 – Electors Appointed: State Executives appoint electors.
– December 17, 2024 – Electors Vote: Electors meet.
– _January 6, 2025 – Congress Counts the Vote: Congress declares the winner.
– January 20, 2025 – Inauguration Day: The President-Elect is sworn in.
Some of Crucial States
These are some of states that play a significant role in the Electoral College votes:
– Arizona: 11 electoral votes, population 1.4 million people
– Georgia: 16 electoral votes, population 11 million people
– Michigan: 15 electoral votes, population 10 million people
– Nevada: 6 electoral votes, population 3.2 million people
– North Carolina: 16 electoral votes, population 10.8 million people
– Pennsylvania: 19 electoral votes, population 13 million people
– Wisconsin: 10 electoral votes, population 5.9 million people
Why Tuesday in November?
Election Day falls on a Tuesday in November because of America’s 19th-century agrarian makeup.
Most citizens worked as farmers and lived far from their polling place, so lawmakers needed to allow a two-day window for Election Day.
Weekends were impractical, since most people spent Sundays in church, and Wednesday was market day for farmers.
Tuesday was selected as the first and most convenient day of the week to hold elections.
