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Why is there an Electoral College and electoral votes by state?

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For Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump to win the presidential election, they must secure 270 electoral votes.

Each state has the same number of electors as Congress, and the District of Columbia also has electors, making the number 538 electors. Most states give all of their electoral votes to the candidate who won the state's popular vote.

California has 54 electoral votes, the most of any state.

Why does the Electoral College exist?

The Electoral College system is part of the U.S. Constitution and represents a compromise on whether the president should be elected by Congress or by a popular vote, USA TODAY reported.

In a Saint Louis University School of Law podcast, associate professor Greg Willard said the framers of the U.S. Constitution felt the “masses,” or male property owners, could not be trusted to elect the next president. Founding father Alexander Hamilton “expressed the importance of having voters,” two law reference librarians at the Law Library of Congress wrote in a 2012 blog post. They pointed to the Federalist Papers as a glimpse into the Electoral College, in which Hamilton wrote about who should decide the election and what qualities these men would have.

According to the Library of Congress blog post, the Electoral College also combats a scenario in which a candidate is elected based on their popularity in a populous region of the country rather than broader national support.

The Pew Research Center found in a recent poll that 63% of Americans would prefer a president to win by receiving the most votes nationwide rather than by winning through the Electoral College.

When will the votes come?

According to the National Archives, electors will meet on December 17 and vote for president and vice president in their respective states. These votes must be received by the President of the Senate and the National Archivist by the fourth Wednesday in December (December 25 this year). According to the National Archives, Congress will count the electoral votes and announce the Electoral College results on January 6, 2025.

View electoral votes by state

Here's how many electoral votes each state and the District of Columbia has, according to the National Archives.

  • Alabama: 9
  • Alaska: 3
  • Arizona: 11
  • Arkansas: 6
  • California: 54
  • Colorado: 10
  • Connecticut: 7
  • Delaware: 3
  • District of Columbia: 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 Mexico: 5
  • New York: 28
  • North Carolina: 16
  • North Dakota: 3
  • 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
  • Washington: 12
  • West Virginia: 4
  • Wisconsin: 10
  • Wyoming: 3

Paris Barraza is a featured reporter covering California news at The Desert Sun. Reach her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.