In 1787, the Founding Fathers met in the Constitutional Convention and the Electoral College (open with new tab) was born. This system of voting is now outdated, but too deep for us to understand, in that the winner of an election is chosen not by popular vote, but by the Electoral College vote. In other words, the candidate who was the most popular in a state wins all the electoral votes in that state (except for Maine and Nebraska).

Each state has a different number of electors (open in new tab): California has 55, but North Carolina has 15. The total of all states and their electors is 538, how many of those votes are needed to elect?

The answer is: more than 270 electors are needed to win the presidential election.

In 2016, Donald Trump won 304 electoral votes, despite Hillary Clinton famously winning the popular vote. It was only the fifth time in U.S. history that the winner of a presidential election lost the popular vote.

It should be noted, however, that while the projected winner is usually announced on Election Day night in November after the vote, the actual Electoral College vote takes place in mid-December (opens in new tab) when the electors gather in their states. So while we may hear that it is in November, the official announcement of who has won will not be made until later.

Now, if this practice is considered by many to be outdated, why has it not been abolished yet? Because this practice is described in the U.S. Constitution, a constitutional amendment (open in new tab) would be needed to change this process.

In today's political environment, that seems highly unlikely, but it has come close once before: in 1969 (open new tab), the U.S. House of Representatives voted 338 to 70 to send a constitutional amendment to the Senate to abolish the Electoral College, but only one year later, the Senate rejected the proposal. The Senate rejected it.

Even members of the same party have different views on abolishing the Electoral College. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden does not support abolishing the Electoral College (open in new tab), but Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris has a different view.

Harris told Jimmy Kimmel (open in new tab), "I am open to discussion. I mean, there is no doubt that the popular vote is declining in terms of ultimately deciding who will be president of the United States, and that needs to be addressed."

Every vote matters, regardless of the Electoral College. If you have not yet registered as an elector, please do so here (opens in a new tab).