How Are U S Presidents Elected When the nation’s founders couldn’t agree if a president should be elected by the popular vote of citizens or by Congress they decided to compromise They came up with a process called the electoral college With the electoral college system when a citizen casts a vote for president they are really voting to select electors who will vote for the candidate with the most votes in the state Each state’s number of electors is equal to its number of senators and representatives in Congress The District of Columbia has three electors and is treated like a state in the electoral college leans Republican leans Democrat Elector numbers in each state There are 538 electors in all At least 270 electoral votes are required to elect a president Sometimes a presidential candidate wins the popular vote but loses the electoral college So far it’s happened fi ve times in U S history The most recent was in 2016 when Hillary Clinton got almost 2 9 million more total votes than Donald Trump but only received 232 electoral college votes Trump lost the popular vote but won the presidency with 302 electoral college votes
Table of Contents The What House 4 Perplexing Presidential Pets 6 Jobs Fashion and Facial Hair 12 Presidential Firsts and Quirks 18 Index 30 Glossary 31 Show What You Know 31 Websites to Visit 31 About the Author About the Author About the Author About the Author 32 The presidential election is held every The presidential election is held every four years on the Tuesday after four years on the Tuesday after the fi rst Monday in November Why the fi rst Monday in November Why Farming When an offi cial voting day was Farming When an offi cial voting day was chosen in 1845 many people worked as chosen in 1845 many people worked as farmers and lived far from their polling farmers and lived far from their polling place A Tuesday allowed people Monday place A Tuesday allowed people Monday for travel November was chosen for travel November was chosen because it was after the harvest was because it was after the harvest was complete and before the harsh winter complete and before the harsh winter weather set in weather set in
