US election 2020: What is the electoral college?
The US presidential election takes place 3 November. But it's possible the candidate with the most votes from the public won't be the winner. This is because the president is not chosen directly by the voters, but what's known as the electoral college. So who are Americans voting for? When Americans go to the polls in presidential elections they're actually voting for a group of officials who make up the electoral college. The word "college" here simply refers to a group of people with a shared task. These people are electors and their job is to choose the president and vice-president. The electoral college meets every four years, a few weeks after election day, to carry out that task. How does the electoral college work? The number of electors from each state is roughly in line with the size of its population. Each state gets as many electors as it has lawmakers in the US Congress (representatives in the House and senators). California has the most electors -...