How many Electoral College votes does Arizona have?

Election Day 2024 in AZ: 2.5M ballots turned in for early voting

The Republic’s Rafael Carranza reports on expectations for Arizona voter turnout on Election Day 2024.

If you’re planning on casting your vote today, you may be wondering how exactly elections work in the United States of America or whether your vote matters.

More specifically, what is the Electoral College and how does it work?

The Electoral College was established in the Constitution by the Founding Fathers as a compromise for the president being selected by Congress and by a popular vote from qualified citizens, according to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

When casting your vote in the 2024 election, you are deciding which presidential and vice presidential candidate to allocate your state’s Electoral College votes to.

Here’s a breakdown of what is the Electoral College, why it exists, how electors are chosen and how many Electoral College votes Arizona gets.

How does the Electoral College work?

In 1787, the framers of the Constitution (Article II, Section 1) said that the next president of the United States would be elected by citizens indirectly through a “college of electors.”

There are a total of 538 electors in the United States, and a candidate needs to receive 270 votes to win the presidency.

Electors are allotted to each state based on their representation in Congress. Each state gets two electors – as there are two Senators in every state – plus a number of votes equal to the number of its members in the U.S. House of Representatives.

When eligible citizens cast their votes on Tuesday, Nov. 5, they are voting for which presidential candidate they’d like to allocate their state’s electors to.

Most states have a winner-take-all system, with the exception of Maine and Nebraska.

On the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December, which is Dec. 17 this year, electors meet in their respective states to cast their votes for the president.

There is no Constitutional provision or federal law that requires electors to vote according to the results of their State’s popular vote, but “faithless electors” are rare since they are selected by political parties.

Why does the Electoral College exist?

There was a debate amongst the Founding Fathers on whether the next president of the United States should be chosen by Congress or through a popular vote among eligible citizens.

As a form of compromise, the Electoral College was created.

How are electors to the Electoral College chosen?

Electors for the Electoral College are chosen in a two-part process.

First, the political parties in each state select potential electors before the general election.

“Generally, the parties either nominate slates of potential electors at their state party conventions or they chose them by a vote of the party’s central committee,” the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration states.

This means that each presidential candidate has their own unique slate of potential electors. They can be state elected officials, state party leaders, or people in the state with a personal or political affiliation with their party’s presidential candidate.

During the general election, when voters in each state cast their vote for the presidential candidate of their choice, they are voting to select their state’s electors.

Does the popular vote affect the Electoral College?

Yes. When voters in each state cast their vote for the presidential candidate of their choice, they are actually voting to select their state’s electors.

The winning Presidential candidate’s slate of potential electors is appointed as the state’s electors.

How many Electoral College votes does Arizona get?

Arizona has nine Congressional Districts and two U.S. Senators, so the total number of Electoral College votes the state of Arizona gets is 11.

Arizona politics matter beyond Election Day. Sign up for azcentral’s Republic Recount newsletter. 

Reach the reporter at [email protected]. Follow @dina_kaur on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=672abec5f1784d0c86bf2e6e49db98ed&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Felections%2F2024%2F11%2F05%2Fhow-many-electoral-college-votes-arizona%2F76070392007%2F&c=10630006627306354318&mkt=en-us

Author :

Publish date : 2024-11-05 10:09:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.