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How can the candidate with most votes lose? The US electoral college explained

Guardian
Summary
Nutrition label

79% Informative

Every four years , in the December following an election, politicians and party loyalists meet in all 50 states to cast their votes for president.

Each state has a number of electors that’s equal to the total number of representatives and senators it has in Congress .

In total, there are 538 electors. A candidate needs the votes of 270 of them, a simple majority, to win.

A single elector in California represents more than 726,000 people.

Another critique is that the system allows a tiny number of Americans to determine the outcome of the presidential election.

The most prominent effort to get rid of the electoral college today is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact .

VR Score

84

Informative language

83

Neutral language

29

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

52

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

External references

34

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