By Count Friedrich von Olsen
I hope everyone is as excited as I am about the electoral college vote that is to take place on Monday. This is the big deal, the whole enchilada. Under the rules, despite the fact that Hillary Clinton has won the popular vote, Donald Trump should become president because of the way the electoral college system is structured…
The United States has an indirect presidential and vice presidential election system – the Electoral College – a mechanism established by Article Two of the United States Constitution. Citizens of the United States vote in each state at a general election to choose a slate of “electors” pledged to vote for a party’s candidate You may not have known it, but what you did on November 8 was not vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton or any of the other actual candidates for president but rather an elector committed to one of those candidates…
Since the 1880s, all states except Maine and Nebraska have chosen electors on a “winner-take-all” basis. That is why Donald Trump won the election, even though Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. This year, Maine’s vote split 3 to 1 in favor of Hillary Clinton. Nebraska’s five votes all went to Donald Trump…
The Twelfth Amendment requires each elector to cast one vote for president and another vote for vice president. In each state and the District of Columbia, electors are chosen every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and then meet to cast ballots on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. The candidates who receive an absolute majority of electoral votes among the states are elected president and vice president when the Electoral College vote is certified by Congress in January.
There are currently a total of 538 electors, corresponding to the 435 Representatives, the 100 Senators, plus three electors for the District of Columbia as provided for in the Twenty-third Amendment. Each state chooses electors amounting to the combined total of its senators and representatives…
Below is my scorecard for how the electoral college vote went this year. Feel free to clip it out and compare it against the actual casting of the votes that will take place when our nation’s electors meet in their respective state capitals and within the District of Columbia in three days, the Monday after the second Wednesday in December. Their votes should match those I have shown on the list below…
• Alabama 9 for Donald Trump
• Alaska 3 for Donald Trum
• Arizona 11 for Donald Trump
• Arkansas 6 for Donald Trump
• California 55 for Hillary Clinton
• Colorado 9 for Hillary Clinton
• Connecticut 7 for Hillary Clinton
• Delaware 3 for Hillary Clinton
• District of Columbia 3 for Hillary Clinton
• Florida 29 for Donald Trump
• Georgia 16 for Donald Trump
• Hawaii 4 for Hillary Clinton
• Idaho 4 for Donald Trump
• Illinois 20 for Hillary Clinton
• Indiana 11 for Donald Trump
• Iowa 6 for Donald Trump
• Kansas 6 for Donald Trump
• Kentucky 8 for Donald Trump
• Louisiana 8 for Donald Trump
• Maine 3 for Hillary Clinton and 1 for Donald Trump
• Maryland 10 for Hillary Clinton
• Massachusetts 11 for Hillary Clinton
• Michigan 16 for Donald Trump
• Minnesota 10 for Hillary Clinton
• Mississippi 6 for Donald Trump
• Missouri 10 for Donald Trump
• Montana 3 for Donald Trump
• Nebraska 5 for Donald Trump
• Nevada 6 for Donald Trump
• New Hampshire 4 for Donald Trump
• New Jersey 14 for Hillary Clinton
• New Mexico 5 for Hillary Clinton
• New York 29 for Hillary Clinton
• North Carolina 15 for Donald Trump
• North Dakota 3 for Donald Trump
• Ohio 18 for Donald Trump
• Oklahoma 7 for Donald Trump
• Oregon 7 for Hillary Clinton
• Pennsylvania 20 for Donald Trump
• Rhode Island 4 for Hillary Clinton
• South Carolina 9 for Donald Trump T
• South Dakota 3 for Donald Trump
• Tennessee 11 for Donald Trump
• Texas 38 for Donald Trump
• Utah 6 for Donald Trump
• Vermont 3 for Hillary Clinton
• Virginia 13 for Hillary Clinton
• Washington 12 for Hillary Clinton
• West Virginia 5 for Donald Trump
• Wisconsin 10 for Donald Trump
• Wyoming 3 for Donald Trump
270 electoral votes are needed to win. By my count, Hillary Clinton has 232 votes and Donald Trump 306.