In order to become president, either candidate needs to win a majority of the 538 electors - so 270. Washington DC also gets three electoral college votes, meaning a total of 538 electors form the electoral college.Īll but two states, Maine and Nebraska, use a winner-takes-all system - which means that if a candidate wins the most votes in a state, they could take its entire haul of electoral college votes. While voters are in theory selecting their choice for president, in reality, they are choosing delegates for the electoral college.Īll 50 US states and Washington DC have a set number of electors in the electoral college, roughly proportional to the size of the state.Įach state gets at least three electoral votes because the amount is equal to its total number of senators and representatives in the US Congress. California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia each lost one. Texas has gained two electoral votes, while Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina, and Oregon each gained one. As a result of the 2020 census the make-up of the electoral college, which formally chooses the president, has changed.

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