This Is How Many Electoral Votes Are Needed to Win a Presidential Election

In 1787 the Founding Fathers met at the Constitutional Convention, and the electoral college (opens in new tab) was born. The now-kinda-outdated-but-we're-in-too-deep voting practice selects the election winner not through the popular vote but by the electoral vote. Which means the candidate who was the most popular in that state gets all the electoral votes for that state (with the exception of Maine and Nebraska).

Each state has a different number of electors (opens in new tab): California has 55, but North Carolina has 15. When you add all up the states and their electors, the total equals 538 electors in all—but how many of their votes do you need for the election?

The answer: It takes 270 or more electoral votes to win a presidential election.

Back in 2016, Donald Trump won with 304 electoral votes, despite the fact Hillary Clinton famously won the popular vote. It was the fifth time in American history that the presidential election winner lost the popular vote.

It's important to note, however, that while a projected winner is usually announced on election night in November after you vote, the actual Electoral College vote takes place in mid-December (opens in new tab) when the electors meet in their states. So while you may hear one thing in November, the official announcement of who won the election won't come until later.

Now, if so many people think the practice is outdated, why haven't they got rid of it yet? Since the practice is listed in the U.S. Constitution, it would take a constitutional amendment (opens in new tab) to change the process, meaning it has to be approved by a two-thirds vote of both houses.

While in today's political environment, that seems highly unlikely, there's one time in the past when it got close. In 1969 (opens in new tab), the U.S. House of Representatives voted by 338 to 70 to send a constitutional amendment to the Senate that would have dismantled the Electoral College—but just a year later, it was shot down by the Senate.

Even same-party members have different views on abolishing the Electoral College. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden doesn't support (opens in new tab) eliminating the Electoral College, but his Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris thinks differently.

Harris told Jimmy Kimmel (opens in new tab), "I'm open to the discussion. I mean, there's no question that the popular vote has been diminished in terms of making the final decision about who's the president of the United States and we need to deal with that."

Regardless of the Electoral College, every vote counts. If you're not registered to vote, sign up here (opens in new tab).