The Electoral College decides the president. Why it exists (and how many votes per state)

Election Day has arrived in America and with it, plenty of fanfare. Last-minute texts from fundraisers, “I Voted” sticker selfies on social media, and ? later in the night ? a whole lot of math.

Once the first polls close, a slew of numbers will start to be released from precincts across the country and pundits will begin to try and decipher what it means for the outcome of the race.

But, why is it so complicated? The Electoral College is part of the answer. Rather than a simple nationwide winner-take-all system, the U.S. president is chosen by the electoral college – a delegate-based process that does not always align with the popular vote.

Here’s how it works and why we have it.

Why is there an Electoral College?

When America was founded, the framers of the Constitution created the Electoral College as a middle ground between a president chosen by the popular vote or a vote in Congress.  It was meant to keep one state with a sizeable population from having the power to swing the whole election.

The Founding Fathers also feared relying on the popular vote could help a demagogue rise to power, NPR reports, and some states feared ceding power and risking the loss of slavery.

The process is outlined in both Article II of the Constitution and the 12^th Amendment. For many years, the existence of the Electoral College has been criticized for various reasons including being exclusionary to third-party candidates and disenfranchising voters in higher-population states. The National Archives reports that there have been more constitutional amendments proposed to change the Electoral College than on any other issue.

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How does the Electoral College work?

Just like much of the American system, the electoral college is a form of representative democracy. Each state is allotted a certain number of electors equal to the number of members they have in the House of Representatives plus their two senators.

The electors cast their ballots for the candidate that won the popular vote in their state, with some exceptions. Nebraska and Maine both allow the splitting of electors in a form of “proportional representation.”

There are 538 total votes in the Electoral College and a candidate needs 270 to win. While the results of the election are announced with the statewide tallies, the actual Electoral College voting process happens in mid-December before the president is sworn in in January. In each state, political parties choose a slate of electors to represent them at the Electoral College.

Because the process prioritizes winning the electoral votes of certain states rather than a pure majority of votes, sometimes a candidate can claim victory in the Electoral College even if fewer Americans overall cast a ballot for them. This was the case in 2016, 2000, and three times in the 1800s.

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Electoral College map with numbers

Here’s a rundown of each state’s electoral college votes, plus Washington D.C. which has three.

Contributing: Fernando Cervantes

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why is there an Electoral College? How it edges out the popular vote