Experts Explain the Electoral College Process

In what some historians are calling the most consequential presidential election since the Civil War era, well over 150 million US citizens were expected to vote-indirectly-for the nation's highest office by Tuesday, November 5.

While Americans marked ballots for Vice President Kamala Harris, former president Donald Trump, or minor party candidates, they were actually voting for a slate of electors from each state, John Fortier, an American Enterprise Institute resident scholar, and Elaine Kamarck, a Brookings Institute senior fellow, explained during a panel discussion, What Happens After Election Day-How the Electoral College Works. The October 29 event kicked off the Sine Institute of Policy and Politics' Deciphering the Political Process series-part of AU's Civic Life initiative.

The discussion was moderated by Janet Rodriguez, SOC/BA '06, an Emmy-award winning bilingual journalist who formerly covered the White House for Univision. She's now the head of internal communications at WhatsApp.

Each of the slates of electors will meet in their respective states on December 17 to cast separate ballots for president and vice president, Fortier said. There are 538 electors. Each state has two-one for each senator, as well as electors equal to the number of congressional representatives it has. The number of representatives is determined by population, with more populous states getting a higher number of electors.

A candidate must win 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

Once the winner of a state is determined, a couple of things happen, Kamarck said. The governor certifies the winner, and the slate of electors for that candidate gather in the state capitol and sign a certificate of ascertainment. This is an official document that identifies the state's electors and the final vote count for the candidates.

These documents are sent to the US Capitol, where on January 6, 2025, the vice president-presiding over a joint session of Congress-will read the documents aloud.

"That's how we elect a president of the United States, technically," Kamarck said.

The Sine Institute's Deciphering the Political Process continues next week with What Just Happened? What Did We Learn from Election 2024? on November 12, and What Happens Next? The Presidential Transition of Power on November 19.