In Korea, and many other democratic countries,
the winner of an election is determined by
popular vote,... meaning the candidate who
gets the most votes, wins.
But it's a bit more complicated in the U.S.
It's not the popular vote that determines
the winner.
It's the electoral vote.
In order to understand how the election in
the U.S. works, you need to understand that
the U.S. is a federation consisting of 50
states and Washington, D.C., with delegates
representing each of those states.
And the states are the most important factor
determining the winner.
The influence that a state has in the election
is measured by the number of electoral votes
it has -- and that's determined by a combination
of the number of districts in a state, which
is equal to the number of seats it has in
the House of Representatives,... and each
state's two U.S. senators.
States with higher populations have a higher
number of representatives, which in turn give
the state more electoral votes.
In other words, some states have a lot more
influence over the election than others.
Let's take a look at California, for example.
With a population of nearly 40 million, California
has 53 districts,... so it has 55 electoral
votes.
Alaska, on the other hand, has just 3.
Put all the states together -- plus the three
electors allocated to Washington, D.C. -- and
you get a grand total of 538 electoral votes.
With just two exceptions, most states have
a winner-takes-all system, meaning the popular
vote determines the winner of a state and
that person gets all the electoral votes.
And that brings us to the magic number -- 270.
The candidate who garners 270 electoral votes
wins the election and becomes the president.
Barring any complications, the world will
soon know which candidate has come out on
top and won the most electoral votes and therefore,
the title of president of the United States.
Connyoung.
