Wiktor Wise
The United States Electoral College is a body of electors established by the Constitution who select the President and Vice President of the United States. There are 538 electors in total, and a candidate must win an absolute majority of 270 votes to be elected President. Each state is allocated a number of electors equal to the combined number of its Congressional districts' representatives and its Senators. Washington has 10 Congressional representatives and two Senators, giving it a total of 12 electoral votes.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of Electoral College Votes for Washington | 12 |
| Number of Electors | 538 |
| Number of Votes required to Win | 270 |
| Number of Senators in the U.S. Senate | 2 |
| Number of Representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives | 10 |
| Number of Electoral Votes for the District of Columbia | 3 |
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What You'll Learn
Washington has 12 electoral votes
The Electoral College is a process by which the President and Vice President of the United States are elected. There are 538 electors in total, and a candidate must win a majority of 270 votes to become President. Each state gets as many electors as it has members of Congress (House and Senate), and each state's political parties choose their own slate of potential electors.
The number of electors allocated to each state is based on the state's Congressional delegation: one for each representative in the U.S. House of Representatives and one for each senator in the U.S. Senate. The District of Columbia is also allocated three electors and is treated like a state for purposes of the Electoral College.
The process of using electors comes from the Constitution and was established as a compromise between a popular vote by citizens and a vote in Congress. While the Constitution does not require electors to vote for the candidate chosen by their state's popular vote, some states do.
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Electors are chosen by each state
The process of selecting electors is determined by each state, and there is no federal law dictating how electors should be chosen. Electors are generally chosen by state party convention, where each political party's state convention nominates a slate of electors, and a vote is held. In a smaller number of states, electors are chosen by a vote of the state party's central committee. Electors are typically elected officials, state party leaders, or people with personal or professional ties to the party's candidate.
The U.S. Constitution outlines a few provisions regarding elector qualifications. According to Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, no Senator, Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States can be an elector. Additionally, the 14th Amendment disqualifies state officials who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States or aided its enemies from serving as electors.
Each state has a different number of electors, which is determined by the state's Congressional delegation. A state is allocated one elector for each representative in the U.S. House of Representatives and one for each senator in the U.S. Senate. For example, Washington has 12 electors because it has 10 representatives and 2 senators.
After the electors are chosen, they meet in their respective states to cast their official votes for President and Vice President. This typically occurs on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December.
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Electors vote for the president and vice president
In the United States, the president and vice president are not elected directly by citizens. Instead, they are chosen through the Electoral College process. The process of using electors comes from the Constitution, which established the Electoral College as a compromise between an election of the president by Congress and an election of the president by popular vote. Each state gets as many electors as it has members of Congress (House and Senate). Washington has 12 electors, one for each of its 10 representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives and one for each of its 2 senators in the U.S. Senate.
Electors are chosen by each political party through the caucus and convention systems, which usually occur in the spring of the presidential year. Each elector must sign a pledge to serve and to mark ballots for the nominees of the party that designated them. When an elector marks a ballot in violation of the pledge or leaves it blank, the elector is replaced by an alternate. While the Constitution does not require electors to vote for the candidate chosen by their state's popular vote, some states do. In such cases, the rare elector who votes for someone else may be fined, disqualified, and replaced by a substitute elector, or they may even be prosecuted by their state.
On Election Day, the voters in each state choose electors to serve in the Electoral College. By December 11, the State Executive of each state signs the Certificate of Ascertainment to appoint the electors chosen in the general election. On December 17, the electors in each state meet to select the president and vice president of the United States. A candidate must win a majority of at least 270 out of 538 total electoral votes to become president. If no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the vote goes to the House of Representatives, which has happened twice in history.
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A candidate needs 270/538 votes to win
The United States elects the President and Vice President through an Electoral College system. There are 538 electors in total, and a candidate needs to secure 270 votes to win the presidential election. This is because the winner must gain a majority, which is more than half of the available votes.
Each state gets as many electors as it has members of Congress (the House and the Senate). So, each state is allocated a number of votes equal to the number of Senators and Representatives in its U.S. Congressional delegation. This means two votes for its Senators in the U.S. Senate, plus a number of votes equal to the number of its Congressional districts. Washington, for example, has 12 electoral votes, with 10 representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives and two U.S. Senators.
The District of Columbia is treated like a state for the purposes of the Electoral College and has three electors. In total, including Washington, D.C., there are 538 electors.
Forty-eight states and Washington, D.C., use a “winner-take-all” system, where the winner of the statewide popular vote gets all of that state's electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska are the only two states that do not follow this system and instead assign their electors using a proportional method.
If no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the election moves from the Electoral College process to Congress. In this case, the U.S. House of Representatives elects the President, and the U.S. Senate elects the Vice President.
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The winner-takes-all system is used by 48 states
Washington has 12 electoral votes in the Electoral College. The number of electors allocated to each state is based on the state's Congressional delegation: one for each representative in the U.S. House of Representatives and one for each senator in the U.S. Senate. Washington has 10 representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives and two US Senators.
A winner-take-all system is one where a voting bloc can win all seats in a legislature or electoral district, denying representation to any political minorities. Such systems are sometimes called "majoritarian representation", though this term is a misnomer as most such systems do not always elect majority-preferred candidates. They also do not always produce winners who received a majority of votes cast in the district, and they allow parties to take a majority of seats in the chamber with just a minority of the vote. Any election with only a single seat is a winner-take-all system, as it is impossible for the winner to take less than one seat.
The winner-take-all system is used by 48 states, including Washington. In these states, whichever candidate receives a majority of the popular vote, or a plurality of the popular vote (less than 50% but more than any other candidate), takes all of the state's electoral votes. For example, all 54 of California's electoral votes go to the winner of the state election, even if the margin of victory is slim. Only Nebraska and Maine do not follow the winner-takes-all rule. In those states, there could be a split of electoral votes among candidates through the state's system for proportional allocation of votes.
The winner-take-all system is much more common outside Europe, particularly in countries of the former British Empire, like Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Egypt, India, and Pakistan. Nowadays, winner-take-all representation is most often used in single-winner districts, which allows nationwide minorities to gain representation if they make up a plurality or majority in at least one district. However, some also consider this anti-democratic because of the possibility of an electoral inversion.
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Frequently asked questions
Washington has 12 electoral votes.
Washington's 12 votes sit in the middle of most states. While it is far fewer than California's 54 votes or Texas's 40 votes, it is also more than Oregon's 8 votes or Idaho's 4 votes.
Each state gets as many electors as it has members of Congress, though this number can vary depending on US Census population reports.
