The Electoral College: How it decides the next president of the United States

DETROIT (FOX 2) - It's a system many Americans have questioned about every election year – the Electoral College. 

In each Presidential Election in the US, the Electoral College is key to deciding who will become the next president and Vice President of the United States. 

How does the Electoral College work? 

It involves three main steps: the selection of electors, the meeting of those electors to cast votes and the counting of those votes by Congress. 

The selection of electors

Each state, including Michigan, gets a number of electors based on its total members in Congress. For Michigan, that is 15 electoral votes. Electoral votes are calculated by adding the number of U.S. House of Representatives seats that a state has to the number of Senate seats. Each state has two Senate seats and Michigan has 13 House seats, giving the state 15 votes in the Electoral College. Each state’s political parties choose a slate of potential electors before the election, which means when voters cast their ballots on Nov. 5, they are really voting to decide which electors will represent the state.

Meeting of the electors

Once the votes are in, these electors come together in December to officially cast their votes. In most states, including Michigan, it is a "winner-take-all" system, which means the candidate who wins the popular vote in the state receives all of its electoral votes.

Counting the votes

Then, Congress counts and confirms those votes, officially determining the winner.

How many electoral votes to win?

To win the presidency, a candidate needs at least 270 out of the 538 electoral votes, but sometimes, unique situations can arise.

One example is when a candidate wins the popular vote nationally but loses the Electoral College vote. This happened in 2016 when then Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump 227-304 but won the popular vote, with Clinton's 65,853,514 votes, to Trump's 62,984,828 votes. 

What happens if there is a tie in the presidential election?

If no candidate reaches 270, the decision goes to the House of Representatives, which is a rare event that has only happened twice, but is outlined in the Constitution as a backup. But it's not the current House of Representatives, it's the incoming House of Representatives, which is also part of this election cycle. That means whichever controls Congress start in January will determine who leads the country, in the event of a tie.

Can the electoral college be abolished?

Changing the Electoral College would require a constitutional amendment, so it is not something that can be adjusted easily. Whether Americans love it or not, this system is here to stay. For Michigan voters, this means every vote helps determine which electors cast the decisive 15 votes, making their voices heard in the Electoral College process.

Election Day is on Tuesday, Nov 5. To keep up to date with election news, tap here.