Obama or Romney

[Preybird]

How does it work? If there only 538 that matter, why do others vote?

I know how it works, but I can't articulate it effectively, so I'll just point you here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elector...United_States)

[Unruler]

I know how it works, but I can't articulate it effectively, so I'll just point you here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elector...United_States)

I was hoping for a simple explanation, not Chinese wall of text.

I thought the state where candidate wins gives him some amount of votes and they are counted automatically, or not?

[Preybird]

I was hoping for a simple explanation, not Chinese wall of text.

I thought the state where candidate wins gives him some amount of votes and they are counted automatically, or not?

Basically yes. Each state has a certain number of Electoral College members, dependent on that state's population. The states population vote for Electoral College members, not the candidates directly. It's a winner take all scenario however, so even if Romney for example gets 49% of the vote in a state and Obama 51%, ALL of that state's votes go to Obama, and the vote of the other 49% is ignored completely. So you can have a situation where the candidate can win the popular vote, but lose the Presidency.

[Atomzed]

Which is what happened during Al Gore vs Bush. Al Gore was the overwhelming favorite but lost due to the electoral college system.

[Unruler]

Basically yes. Each state has a certain number of Electoral College members, dependent on that state's population.

Nut those are just votes, no actual people behind them?

[XanteseZerylliom]

Nut those are just votes, no actual people behind them?

Yes, actual people. There's an episode of Boston Legal dealing with that....

Edit: Hmm.... Seems I was slightly off on the electoral college part, here. Still, here's a link for the record.

http://www.tv.com/shows/boston-legal...osals-1193652/