The 4-year wait is finally over! 66% of citizens all over the country have voted, and their decisions have been tallied up. Georgia broke the record for people casting their ballots early, exceeding 4 million. For those who aren’t regularly involved in politics, don’t leave this article! It’s important for every American citizen to know what goes on at elections. Don’t worry; I’ll keep it interesting.
Let’s begin by talking about the Electoral College. Each state, depending on its population, is allotted a certain number of votes to be given to a presidential candidate should they win that state. For instance, California has 54 electoral votes, while Delaware only has 3. Alaska, on the other hand, has only 3 of its own as well, despite being a huge state. This is because not many people live there. The candidates need at least 270 total electoral votes in order to win the presidency.
Now onto the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate is made up of 100 senators, two per state. You may have heard the phrases “flipping seats,” “taking back the Senate,” and “taking back the House.” Flipping a seat would be if an incumbent Republican (a sitting Republican senator or representative) was replaced by a Democrat, or vice versa. If there were 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats in the Senate from the midterm elections (which take place between presidential elections), flipping an originally Republican seat would result in the Democrats taking the Senate, meaning that the ratio would change from 50-50 to 51-49. This generally would give the Democrats the upper hand in passing - or defeating- bills.
During this election, the Republicans took back the Senate by flipping 6 seats, while the Democrats flipped 2. The results are officially 52-47, with 1 independent (Bernie Sanders).
The House of Representatives consists of 435 people, which is also the total of available votes in the Electoral College. The Republican party already held the House majority, and there was no significant difference in those numbers this election.
Kamala Harris ended with 226 electoral votes, coming from states such as Hawaii and California. Donald Trump ended with a 312-vote blowout coming from familiar states like Georgia, Florida, etc. He also won the popular vote, which includes every American citizen’s cast ballot.
This election has come out well for the Republican party. They seemed to have created a trifecta, in which each branch of government is a majority of one party or the other. With over 270 votes, Trump has officially won the presidency.
From now on, keep up with your news network of choice, for your benefit… and for our country’s, too.
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