The Electoral College is the unique American system of electing presidents. It's a 538-member group that elects a president. The framers of the Constitution set it up to give more power to the states and as a compromise to avoid having Congress decide the winner. Each state’s electoral votes go to the candidate who won the popular vote in that state. In every state but Nebraska and Maine, the runner-up gets nothing. To win the presidency, a candidate must secure 270 electoral votes — a majority of the 538 possible votes. The Electoral College is different from the popular vote, and it has an outsize impact on how candidates run and win campaigns.
