US election: Electoral College guide

The US president is selected by the Electoral College. Here is how it works:

TUESDAY, NOV 2 (Wednesday Nov 3 NZ time)

Voters in 50 states and the District of Columbia select 538 representatives to the Electoral College, a decentralised body established in the Constitution to apportion presidential votes among the states.

Each state receives electors equal to the number of its representatives in Congress, which is comprised of the 435-member House of Representatives and the 100-member Senate. State representation in the House is based on the state's population, as determined in the Census every 10 years, while each state has two senators. The District of Columbia, which has no voting representation in Congress, gets three electors. All but two states award votes on a winner-take-all basis.


MONDAY, DEC. 13 (Tuesday Dec 14 NZ time)

Meeting in their respective state capitals, electors vote for president and vice president, transmitting the results to the federal government.

Most states use the general election to select electors, though there is no federal requirement that they vote in accord with the statewide popular vote.

The Constitution says that electors cannot be federal officials.


THURSDAY, JAN. 6 (Friday January 7 NZ time)

The electoral votes are unsealed and read during a joint session of Congress. To win, a candidate must receive a majority, at least 270 of 538 votes, regardless of which candidate won the popular vote nationally.

In the event of a tie, or if neither candidate managed to secure a majority of the electoral vote, the president would be picked by the House of Representatives. Each state would cast one vote, an absolute majority of the states being required to elect.