EXPLAINER: What you need to know about US Electoral College

When political outsider Donald Trump defied polls and expectations to defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 United States presidential election, he described the victory as “beautiful.”

The unusual situation of losing the popular vote but winning the White House was not unprecedented.

Five presidents have risen to office this way, the first being John Quincy Adams in 1824.

More recently, the 2000 election led to a complex dispute in Florida between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore.

Gore won nearly 500,000 more votes nationwide, but when Florida — after a US Supreme Court intervention — was awarded to Bush, it pushed his Electoral College total to 271, securing a narrow victory.

True Vote or Mere Formality?

Nothing in the Constitution obliges electors to vote one way or another.
While some states required electors to respect the popular vote, they could be fined if they failed to do so. But in July 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that states could impose penalties on such “faithless electors.”

To date, faithless electors have never changed the outcome of a US election.

Electoral College Timeline

Electors will gather in their state capitals on December 17 to cast votes for the president and vice president.

US law states that they “meet and cast their vote on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December.”

On January 6, 2025, Congress will convene to certify the winner — a nervously anticipated event this cycle, four years after a mob of Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol, attempting to block certification.

Last time, Republican Vice President Mike Pence, as Senate President, oversaw the certification, defying intense pressure from Trump and the mob to confirm President Joe Biden’s victory.

This time, the Senate President — overseeing what would normally be a procedural certification — will be the current Vice President, Kamala Harris.

On January 20, 2025, the new president will be sworn in.

(AFP)