Tuesday 5 November will be theElection Day from the US elections 2024the last day on which American citizens will be able to vote to elect the 47th President and the new Vice President of the United States of America. Or rather, to elect the Big Votersthose who will actually say who will be the new tenant of the White House.
In fact the elections of the United States of America they do not provide for direct elections of the President by the citizens, who must first elect 538 Major Voterswho will form the Electoral College, specifically used for the presidential nomination. Within this guide, we discover who they are and what their precise function is in American elections, and how they are counted in individual states.
US elections 2024 and major voters: how the electoral system works
In the United States of America the election of the President and Vice President is not direct, but depends on Constituencyformed by the Great Voters, who in turn are elected by American citizens. All this is enshrined in Article 2 of the American Constitution, and provides that each State is represented by a precise number of Great Electors
Therefore, once formed, the Electoral College determines the winner of the US elections. A victory that can be achieved thanks to the system “Winner-takes-all“, that is, the winner takes all: in a nutshell, the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote, even just one vote more than his opponent, wins all the Big Voters up for grabs. This happens in 48 out of 50 states, except Maine and Nebraska.
And this is where a paradox: a candidate can become president by having fewer popular votes at a national level than his opponent, but precisely because he managed to obtain a majority of the Great Electors, which must be at least 270. For example, as you recall Euronewsin 2000 George W. Bush had the support of 271 electors despite Al Gore getting 500 thousand more votes at a national level.
Technically however, as Fanpage reminds us, the Great Voters have the possibility of voting for a different candidate compared to that of the popular will of their reference state. However, in 26 states and the District of Columbia there is a legal obligation to align one’s vote with that cast by citizens.
US elections: the role of swing states
Traditionally, during elections, there are two types of states, as you recall Skytg24. The first category concerns the “Safe States”, a term that indicates states that definitely vote for a single party. We can often recognize them in graphics because they are identified with a specific color: “Blue States” (when the majority votes for the Democrats); “Red States” (when the majority votes for Republicans).
The other category is known as “Swing States”, which means “swing states”, i.e. where the vote is undecided. These swing states are fundamental, as they become the key places where votes can contribute to the definitive victory of the American elections. For 2024, states considered swing states are North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona.
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How many major voters are there?
The total number of Great Electors is 538: 435 are US representatives, 100 senators and 3 representatives elected in the District of Columbia, the area of the capital Washington. In order to win the election, you need to get at least 270 Electors, which are divided state by state like this:
- Alabama 9
- Alaska 3
- Arizona 11
- Arkansas 6
- California 54
- Colorado 10
- Connecticut 7
- D.C. 3
- Delaware 3
- Florida 30
- Georgia 16
- Hawaii 4
- Idaho 4
- Illinois 19
- Indiana 11
- Iowa 6
- Kansas 6
- Kentucky 8
- Louisiana 8
- Maine 4
- Maryland 10
- Massachusetts 11
- Michigan 15
- Minnesota 10
- Mississippi 6
- Missouri 10
- Montana 4
- Nebraska 5
- Nevada 6
- New Hampshire 4
- New Jersey 14
- New York 28
- Nord Carolina 16
- North Dakota 3
- New Mexico 5
- Ohio 17
- Oklahoma 7
- Oregon 8
- Pennsylvania 19
- Rhode Island 4
- South Carolina 9
- South Dakota 3
- Tennessee 11
- Texas 40
- Utah 6
- Vermont 3
- Virginia 13
- West Virginia 4
- Washington 12
- Wisconsin 10
- Wyoming 3
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Who can vote for the Great Electors?
In the United States of America they can vote people at least 18 years of agebut all states – except North Dakota – require voter registration. Only that the registration documents can vary from state to state: the driving license is the most used document, but the birth certificate or university card can also be valid. Documents which, however, are not always easily obtainable by minorities: a framework which, as he explains SPIcontributes to a distortion of the right to vote known as “voter suppression”.
Major Voters: what happens after the vote
Following Election Day, scheduled for Tuesday 5 November 2024, the Great Electors will have to meet by 17 December 2024. Before that, however, on 11 December, each state will have to deliver the election results, without errors. Finally, there will be January 6, 2025 the final vote count in a joint session of Congress, and on January 20, 2025 it will be the turn of the Inauguration Ceremony of the new President of the United States of America, whose mandate will expire in 2028.
In the event that none of the candidates manages to obtain 270 electoral votes, according to the Twelfth Amendment of the US Constitution, a particular scenario is emerging: the House of Representatives will choose the President from among the three most voted candidates, while the Senate will elect the Vice President.
