A candidate who gets more votes in the United States does not always win the presidency.

• The president of the United States is not directly elected by the people. The US President was elected by an indirect vote of a group of officials known as the Electoral College.

The term college refers to a group of people who play the role of selectors. Their job is to elect a president and vice president.

Every four years, a few weeks after the election, the Electoral College selectors come together to perform their duties.

Under the U.S. Constitution, a president is elected in this way, which is made up of a complex combination of federal and state government laws.

Theoretically, the Electoral College elects the president who gets the most votes among the candidates across the country.

But that is not always the case.

How does Electoral College work?

In the electoral college system, each state has some votes in its hands.

How many electors there are in a state depends on the population of that state.

The most populous state is the state of California. As a result, the number of electors in this state is the highest, 55.

Some smaller states and the District of Columbia have three votes each. The states of Alaska and North Dakota also got three votes each.

The votes that candidates receive from voters across the country on the day of the presidential election are called popular votes and the votes of the Electoral College are called electoral votes.

The candidate who gets the most popular votes in a state will get all the electoral votes in that state.

For example, in the state of Texas, if the Republican candidate gets 50.1% of the vote, then the 36 electoral votes in that state will go to their pockets.

The total number of votes in the Electoral College is 536.

With the exception of the two states of Maine and Nebraska, the candidate who receives 270 or more votes will be elected president.

Half of the 537 electoral votes, 279, and one more vote to go to the White House to win would give a candidate 270 votes to be elected president.

Despite the low turnout, George W. Bush was elected president.

With each state having a different number of votes in hand, candidates set their election campaigns in such a way that they prioritize the states with the most votes.

Donald Trump and George W. Bush have been elected presidents in an electoral college system, despite receiving less popular votes in both of the last five elections.

In the last election in 2016, Republican candidate Donald Trump was elected president with 3 million fewer popular votes than Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton.

Why this method was chosen?

When the United States was founded in the late eighteenth century, it was almost impossible to hold national presidential elections due to the country's large size and difficult communication between different parts of the country.

Even then, the national identity of the United States was not well developed, the states were much more vocal about their own rights, political parties were viewed with suspicion, and people were afraid of the popular vote.

A scene from the presidential election in the Electoral College in the eyes of the artist.

When the framers of the constitution drafted the constitution in 18, they rejected the idea of ​​a presidential election by direct vote (popular vote) of the Congress and the people.

Their argument was that if the president was elected by popular vote, people would vote for their local candidate and as a result the big states would establish dominance.

Smaller states support this electoral college system because it also plays an important role in the presidential election.

The southern states favored this system because of the large number of slaves in those states at that time. Slaves were counted in the census even though they did not have the right to vote.

Also, the framers of the constitution did not want the legislators to sit in the capital, Washington DC, and elect the country's president.

Andrew Jackson could not go to the White House even after getting more popular votes.

History of elections :

2016: Republican candidate Donald Trump is elected president with 308 electoral votes, although he received about 3 million fewer votes than Democrat Hillary Clinton.

2000: Republican candidate George W. Bush is elected president with 261 electoral votes, while Democrat Al Gore received more than 540,000 votes.

Republican Benjamin Harrison won the presidency with 233 electoral votes, while Democrat Grover Cleveland received more than 1458 votes.

18: Republican Rutherford B. Hayes is elected president with 175 electoral votes, but Democrat candidate Samuel J. Tilden received more than 264,000 votes.

1824: The Electoral College divides four candidates, and the House elects John Quincy Adams as president, although Andrew Jackson receives even more popular electoral votes.

How fair is it to be elected president despite getting less popular votes?

This is the most negative aspect of this approach.

History has shown that since 1804, five presidents have been elected without popular support.

Earlier, in the 2000 election, Al Gore won 48.36% of the total votes in the country. George Bush received 47.6%. Even after that, George W. Bush was elected president because he received 261 electoral votes where Mr. Gore got 26.

The decisive electoral votes came from Florida. There were 25 electoral votes for George W. Bush, although he received only 538 popular votes in that state.

Another downside is that in many states the outcome is predictable. As a result, many lose their motivation to vote.

Candidates also do not want to waste their time campaigning in those states.

For example, the states of California, Illinois and New York are Democrats, and the state of Texas is known as the base of Republicans.

So what are the benefits?

This electoral college system is given so much importance for historical reasons. He has also been elected president by popular vote in most elections. After 1804, in 53 elections, only 48 people were elected by popular vote.

Also small states get importance in this method. It also preserves a fundamental principle of the United States Constitution - checks and balances.

For example, the largest state, California, has a population of 12.03% of the total population of the United States. But this state has 55 electoral votes which is 10.22% of the total votes of the Electoral College.

The state of Waoming, on the other hand, has a population of 0.18% of the total population of the United States. But they have three electoral votes in their hands which is 0.57% of the total votes of the Electoral College.

Another aspect of this college system is that a candidate has to get votes all over the country.

What will happen if a candidate does not get 270 votes in Electoral College?

According to the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution, the House of Representatives elects the President.

Each state representative has one vote. This means that the majority party in each state controls this vote. As a result, a candidate must win a majority state to be elected president.

The Senate elects a vice president. That is why senators have one vote each.

This is the only incident in the history of the United States since 1804.

In 1824 the electoral votes were divided among four candidates. All of them failed to get a majority vote.

Democrat candidate Andrew Jackson had the most electoral votes, he also got the most popular votes. As a result, it was thought that he would be elected president.

But Speaker Henry Clay, who was in fourth place, influenced the House to elect second-placed John Quincy Adams. Finally Mr. Adams was elected president.

Thanks everyone.