The Electoral Faculty votes to verify outcomes for the 2024 presidential election right this moment. Here is what to know.
At state capitols throughout the U.S. Tuesday, the presidential electors can be gathering to solid their electoral votes, formalizing President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris within the 2024 election.
It is largely a ceremonial vote, the subsequent step after the presidential election. When People solid their ballots on Election Day, they’re technically voting for a slate electors dedicated to supporting their selection for president and vice chairman.
How does the Electoral Faculty work?
The foundations governing the Electoral Faculty are outlined by the twelfth Modification.
Presidential electors, in line with the modification, “shall title of their ballots the individual voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the individual voted for as Vice-President, and so they shall make distinct lists of all individuals voted for as President, and of all individuals voted for as Vice-President, and of the variety of votes for every, which lists they shall signal and certify.”
The political events select the slate of electors forward of the overall election.
After Election Day, all of the votes are counted after which licensed by every state. In line with the 2022 Electoral Rely Reform Act, the deadline to certify the outcomes is ready at six days earlier than the electors are scheduled to satisfy, historically on the primary Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December.
The Electoral Rely Reform Act of 2022 additionally requires that every state decide a state official — the governor until specified in any other case — to be accountable for submitting the “certificates of ascertainment” that identifies the state’s electors and features a safety function.
What have been the 2024 Electoral Faculty outcomes?
Trump gained 312 Electoral Faculty votes to Harris’ 226. See state-by-state outcomes right here and under.
Nationally, Trump additionally gained the favored vote, successful 77.2 million votes to Harris’ 75 million.
What number of electoral votes does every state have?
The Electoral Faculty consists of 538 electors, and a majority of 270 is required to turn out to be president.
Every state’s electoral votes are equal to the variety of representatives they’ve within the Home, plus two senators.
Whereas the variety of Electoral Faculty votes has remained at 538 since 1964, the variety of votes per state modifications to match congressional apportionment after the decennial census. Between the 2020 election and the 2024 election, Texas gained two Electoral Faculty votes, whereas 5 different states — Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon — gained one electoral vote every. Six states misplaced an electoral vote: California, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The map under reveals the modifications by state between the 2020 election and the 2024 election.
Does every elector must vote with the state election outcomes?
Forty-eight states and Washington, D.C., are winner-take-all, so the winner of the favored vote within the state wins all the state’s electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska allocate their electors primarily based on the winner of the favored vote inside every Congressional District after which two “at-large” electors are decided primarily based on winner of the statewide standard vote.
The electors are imagined to vote in accordance with the end result of the favored vote of their state. The Structure doesn’t require electors to vote with the winner of the favored vote, however most states have legal guidelines that nullify the votes of “faithless electors.” The Supreme Court docket dominated in 2020 that states can punish these “faithless electors.”
In line with FairVote, there have been 90 “deviant” votes solid by electors for president because the founding of the Electoral Faculty, though the vast majority of these have been as a result of dying of a celebration’s nominee somewhat than a real deviation from the voters’ intent.
There have additionally been 75 faithless electors for vice chairman, for a complete of 165 faithless electors all through historical past, in line with FairVote.
After the 2020 election, so-called “faux” Republican electors in seven battleground states gained by President Biden met anyway and solid phony votes for Trump. State legal fees have been filed towards faux electors in Georgia, Michigan and Nevada. In charging Trump for trying the overturn the election outcomes, particular counsel Jack Smith stated these faux electors have been a part of a plan to overturn the election, orchestrated by pro-Trump attorneys with Trump’s assist. These fees have been dismissed since Trump’s victory within the 2024 election.
What’s subsequent after the Electoral Faculty certification?
After the outcomes are signed and authorized, they’re despatched to Harris, appearing because the president of the Senate. The vote certificates have to be obtained by the fourth Wednesday in December, which this 12 months is Dec. 25. The archivist then transmits the units of certificates to Congress on or earlier than the brand new Congress meets on Jan. 3, 2025.
On Jan. 6, 2025, Congress meets in a joint session to rely the Electoral Faculty votes, overseen by Harris. After the votes are counted, the vice chairman publicizes the winner of the election.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will take the oath of workplace on the inauguration at midday on Jan. 20, 2025.
