Guides: Voting and Elections: The Popular Vote and The Electoral College

Popular Vote

What is the Popular Vote?

When we receive the results from any presidential election, the public gets two different voter results: the Electoral College vote and the Popular Vote. The popular vote is simply the candidate that received the largest total number of votes from the American citizens that cast their vote.
There have been only five Presidents in United States history that has lost the popular vote but won the elections. The list of Presidents that lost the popular vote but won the election are as follows:
- John Quincy Adams (1824)
- Rutherford B. Hayes (1876)
- Benjamin Harrison (1888)
- George W. Bush (2000)
- Donald Trump (2016)

Articles on the Popular Vote, the Electoral College and U.S. Presidential Elections

The Electoral College, Congress and representation
Article by the Pew Research Center
US election 2020: What is the electoral college?
By BBC News
Understanding the Presidential Election
Vision 2020: Electoral College vs popular vote in America
How Does the Electoral College Work and Why Does It Matter?
The New York Times By Allyson Waller
Vision 2020: Electoral College vs Popular Vote in America
Why Voting Is Important
by National Geographic
Voting Rights
By Library of Congress

Electoral College

What is the Electoral College and how does it work?

Each state gets as many electors as it has members of Congress (House and Senate). Including Washington, D.C.’s three electors, there are currently 538 electors in all.
After you cast your ballot for president, your vote goes to a statewide tally. In 48 states and Washington, D.C., the winner gets all the electoral votes for that state. Maine and Nebraska assign their electors using a proportional system.
A candidate needs the vote of at least 270 electors—more than half of all electors—to win the presidential election.
In most cases, a projected winner is announced on election night in November after you vote. But the actual Electoral College vote takes place in mid-December when the electors meet in their states. See the Electoral College timeline of events for the 2020 election.
While the Constitution doesn’t require electors to follow their state's popular vote, many states' laws do. Though it's rare, electors have challenged those laws and voted for someone else. But in July 2020 the Supreme Court ruled that those state laws are constitutional. Electors must follow their state's popular vote if the state has passed such a law. - Summary bu usa.org

National Archive
The Electoral college is a process, not a place. Information is provided by the National Archive and Records Administration (NARA), which is the nation's record keeper.
Bill of Rights Institute (BRI)
BRI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization established in 1999.
Vote Smart
Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States.
History House.gov
Electoral College Fast Facts
HeinOnline-Electoral College
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress provides in-depth information on the electoral colleges' creation and function.

Books on Voting and Elections

Protest at Selma by David J. Garrow
ISBN: 9780300024982
Publication Date: 2015-09-08
The work of David J. Garrow is more than a day-by-day account of how the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965 came into being.
A Magnificent Catastrophe by Edward J. Larson
ISBN: 9780743293167
Publication Date: 2007-09-18
"They could write like angels and scheme like demons." So begins Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Larson's masterful account of the wild ride that was the 1800 presidential election -- an election so convulsive and so momentous to the future of American democracy that Thomas Jefferson would later dub it "America's second revolution.
The Politics of Voter Suppression by Janice Nittoli (Foreword by); Tova Wang
ISBN: 9780801450853
Publication Date: 2012-08-15
The Politics of Voter Suppression arrives in time to assess actual practices at the polls this fall and to reengage with debates about voter suppression tactics such as requiring specific forms of identification.
Game Change by John Heilemann; Mark Halperin
ISBN: 9780061733635
Publication Date: 2010-01-11
This classic campaign trail book tells the defining story of a new era in American politics, going deeper behind the scenes of the Obama/Biden and McCain/Palin campaigns than any other account of the historic 2008 election.
Presidents with Prime Ministers by Margit Tavits
ISBN: 9780199553327
Publication Date: 2009-01-15
This book is about presidents in parliamentary systems.
Lincoln and the Election Of 1860 by Michael S. Green
ISBN: 9780809386369
Publication Date: 2011-08-01
Now, Michael S. Green unveils another side to the sixteenth president of the United States: that of the astute political operator. Lincoln and the Election of 1860 examines how through a combination of political intrigue and deep commitment to the principle of freedom.
The U. S. Election System by Paul McCaffrey (Editor)
Call Number: JK1976 .U217 2004
ISBN: 9780824210366
Publication Date: 2004-08-01
The unique way in which Americans elect their public officials is explored in this volume, from financing campaigns, to registering voters, to the function of the electoral college. Articles also examine the two-party system, the nomination and convention process, and issues particular to the 2004 election.
Demanding Choices by Shaun Bowler; Todd Andrew Donovan
ISBN: 9780472023349
Publication Date: 2010-08-04
Shaun Bowler and Todd Donovan present a search and original examination of how voters make decisions in direct referenda. The authors ask if voters have some information about the issue easily at their disposal and if they make choices that seem sensible given their interests and the information they have.
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
ISBN: 9781451688092
Publication Date: 2012-10-16
Winner of the Lincoln Prize Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Abraham Lincoln's political genius in this highly original work, as the one-term congressman and prairie lawyer rises from obscurity to prevail over three gifted rivals of national reputation to become president.
The Great Migration and the Democratic Party by Keneshia N. Grant
ISBN: 9781439917473
Publication Date: 2020-02-14
Where Black people live has long been an important determinant of their ability to participate in political processes. The Great Migration significantly changed the way Democratic Party elites interacted with Black communities in northern cities, Detroit, New York, and Chicago. Many white Democratic politicians came to believe the growing pool of Black voters could help them reach their electoral goals--and these politicians often changed their campaign strategies and positions to secure Black support. Furthermore, Black migrants were able to participate in politics because there were fewer barriers to Black political participations outside the South. The Great Migration and the Democratic Party frames the Great Migration as an important economic and social event that also had serious political consequences. Keneshia Grant created one of the first listings of Black elected officials that classifies them based on their status as participants in the Great Migration. She also describes some of the policy/political concerns of the migrants. The Great Migration and the Democratic Party lays the groundwork for ways of thinking about the contemporary impact of Black migration on American politics.