You can lose even if you get the most votes...a unique style of U.S. presidential election

[Anchor]
The U.S. presidential election is an indirect election that does not vote directly for presidential candidates, but votes for electors who have pledged to support a particular candidate.

Also, the candidate who wins more votes may not be elected because of the "winner-take-all system."
Reporter Cho Soo-hyun reports on the characteristics and procedures of the
U.S. presidential election.

[Reporter]
During the 2000 U.S. presidential election, Al Gore won the entire vote, but the winner was President Bush.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost to President Trump even though she won about 700,000 more votes.

It was because of the electors that both elections resulted in this.

The U.S. presidential election is held indirectly, electing 538 electors who have pledged to support a particular candidate.

538 is the number of 100 federal senators elected in 50 states plus 435 House members and three electors assigned to the capital, Washington, D.C., without members.

The number of electors by state is distributed in proportion to the population.

Therefore, California, with the largest population, has the largest population of 54, followed by Texas, Florida, and New York.

Six less populated states, Alaska and Vermont, have just three electors.

More than 270 candidates out of 538 will win, and the key here is the "winner-take-all system."

In 48 states except Nebraska and Maine, a system in which a candidate with even one more vote wins all the electors in that state.

Because of this, it can lose the overall vote even though it is ahead of the others.

The election will be virtually confirmed with the vote count, but the next president will be announced on January 6 next year after a formal process in which electors vote on presidential candidates on the 16th of next month.

I'm Jo Suhyun of YTN.


Video editing: Lim Hyun-chul

Design: Im Saetbyul