The Electoral College decides who will be elected president and vice president of the United States, according to USAGov. The National Archives states, “The Electoral College is a process, not a place.” The National Archives says the Founding Fathers wrote it into the Constitution partly to bridge two ideas: choosing the president through a vote in Congress, or choosing the president through a popular vote of qualified citizens.

What the process includes

The National Archives says the process covers three stages: picking the electors, bringing those electors together so they can vote for president and vice president, and having Congress tally the electoral votes. USAGov describes the same parts: the selection of electors, the meeting of electors who cast votes for the president and vice president, and the counting of the electors’ votes by Congress.

In other U.S. elections, candidates are elected directly by popular vote, USAGov says. The president and vice president are not elected directly by citizens and are instead chosen through the Electoral College process, according to USAGov. USAGov says the process of using electors comes from the Constitution.

The Electoral College process is in the U.S. Constitution, USAGov says. USAGov states that it would take a constitutional amendment to change the process.

How electors are distributed and chosen

The National Archives says there are 538 electors in the Electoral College. It also says that electing the president requires a majority, set at 270 electoral votes. USAGov says a candidate needs the vote of at least 270 electors, which it describes as more than half of all electors, to win the presidential election.

The National Archives says a state’s number of electors matches the size of its delegation in Congress: one elector for each of its members in the House of Representatives, and two more for its senators. USAGov says each state gets as many electors as it has members of Congress in the House and Senate. The National Archives says the 23rd Amendment gives the District of Columbia three electors and directs that the District be handled as a state when the Electoral College is used.

The National Archives says that, for this reason, the word “State” in its discussion also refers to the District of Columbia, and “Executive” refers to the state governors and the mayor of the District of Columbia. USAGov says that, including Washington, D.C.’s three electors, there are 538 electors in all, on a page last updated Feb. 25, 2026.

Each candidate running for president in a state has a group of electors known as a slate, the National Archives says. The slates are generally chosen by the candidate’s political party in the state, but state laws vary on how the electors are selected and what their responsibilities are, according to the National Archives. USAGov says each state’s political parties choose their own slate of potential electors, and that who is chosen to be an elector, how, and when varies by state.

What the general election decides

The general election is held every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, the National Archives says. When a person votes for a presidential candidate, that vote is actually a vote for the candidate’s preferred electors, according to the National Archives. After a ballot for president is cast, the vote goes to a statewide tally, USAGov says.

Most states have a “winner-take-all” system that awards all electors to the presidential candidate who wins the state’s popular vote, the National Archives says. Maine and Nebraska each have a variation of “proportional representation,” according to the National Archives. USAGov says that in 48 states and Washington, D.C., the winner gets all the electoral votes for that state, while Maine and Nebraska assign their electors using a proportional system.

The Constitution does not require electors to vote for the candidate chosen by their state’s popular vote, although some states do, USAGov says. USAGov says the rare elector who votes for someone else may be fined, disqualified, replaced by a substitute elector, or prosecuted by their state.

Certificates, the December meeting, and the count

After the general election, the state’s executive prepares a Certificate of Ascertainment, the National Archives says. The National Archives says the certificate names everyone on each candidate’s slate, records how many votes each of those people received, and identifies which of them were appointed electors for the state. The state’s Certificate of Ascertainment is sent to NARA as part of the official records of the presidential election, according to the National Archives.

The National Archives says the electors meet on the first Tuesday that follows the second Wednesday in December after the general election. The electors meet in their respective states and cast their votes for president and vice president on separate ballots, according to the National Archives. USAGov says that in most cases a projected winner is announced on election night in November, but that the actual Electoral College vote takes place in mid-December, when the electors meet in their states.

The National Archives says the electors write down their state’s votes at that meeting on a document called a Certificate of Vote. That certificate is sent to Congress, where the votes are counted, and it is also sent to NARA as part of the official records of the presidential election, according to the National Archives.

Each state’s electoral votes are counted in a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 in the year following the meeting of the electors, the National Archives says. The National Archives says members of the House and of the Senate gather in the House Chamber for the formal tally of electoral votes. The National Archives says the vice president of the United States, serving as president of the Senate, oversees the count in a strictly ministerial manner and then states the outcome of the vote.

The National Archives says the president of the Senate then announces which people, if anyone, have been chosen president and vice president of the United States. The president-elect takes the oath of office and is sworn in as president of the United States on Jan. 20 in the year following the general election, the National Archives says.

When no candidate wins a majority

It is possible to win the Electoral College but lose the popular vote, USAGov says. USAGov says this happened in 2016, in 2000, and three times in the 1800s.

If no candidate receives the majority of electoral votes, the vote goes to the House of Representatives, according to USAGov. USAGov says this has happened twice. The first time was following the 1800 presidential election, when the House chose Thomas Jefferson, and following the 1824 presidential election, the House selected John Quincy Adams as president, USAGov says.