millions of Americans will cast a ballot in this 2024 election but they aren’t actually directly electing a president that’s because the presidential victory goes not to the person who wins the popular vote but instead the Electoral College it’s a controversial element of the Constitution which dictates the president is elected by a slate of electors in each state chosen by political parties each state gets a number of electors equal to its representation in both houses of Congress and the District of Colombia gets three most states have a win or take all system so whoever wins the state gets all of its electoral votes there’s two exceptions Nebraska and Maine which give two votes to the Statewide winner and then each congressional district in the state Awards its vote separately if all of the electors across the country cast ballots there’s 538 in total and it takes 270 to win the presidency it is possible though unlikely that things end in a 269 269 tie like for example if kamla Harris doesn’t pick up a single vote in otherwise red Nebraska or Donald Trump doesn’t pick up a vote in otherwise blue Maine if that happens the Constitution dictates the newly elected House of Representatives chooses the president in what’s called a contingent election where each of the 50 state delegations in the house get one vote and 26 are required to win that’s only happened to determine the presidency one time in American history and assuming that’s not how it goes this time around here’s how the timeline Works while the election is on November 5th electors don’t meet in their state capitals until December 17th to cast their votes those are then sent to Congress which certifies them on January 6th and on January 20th the new president is inaugurated