During 23ABC's coverage on election night, we covered a number of topics with our political analysts including the presidential race, congressional state races, local races, and the electoral college.
The political contributors were featured center stage at the Fox Theater. The night hit the ground running with a widely-discussed topic: the electoral college. Political Science Professor Jeremy Adams explained it further -- who actually elects the president and how.
"States elect the president of the United States. There is no national vote for the president. We keep track of it because we think of ourselves as the American people," explained political analyst Jeremy Adams. "Ultimately it's 51 states because the 23rd Amendment gave D.C. 3 electoral votes. It is 51 states that elect the president of the United States. There are 538 electors, gotta get to a majority, which is 270, and here's the thing that really allows it - the popular vote and electoral vote might go in opposite directions sometimes like in 1824, and in 1888, and in 2000 and 2016."
According to the Associated Press, electoral college electors in each state don't vote until December 14th. And they typically align with the popular vote in each state.
