Although India and US are both democracies and their executive power is elected by the people, both the systems work very differently. In India, the party winning the largest number of votes or the majority share of votes in the Lok Sabha elections forms the government after choosing a candidate to lead the cabinet. However, in the US things are not so simple. This Financial Times video breaks up the elections in the easiest way for you to grasp the US election process.
On 9th Novemeber, the one winning the largest number of votes from across 50 states in the country will not make it to the White House. This is because a system called electoral college decides the fate of the candidates. So for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Turmp.
The electoral college consists of electors from each state. Each state usually have electors proportionate to its population. For example, Florida has 29 electors. These electors are trusted with replicating the voting pattern of their state’s population. In all the electoral college consists of 538 votes and the winning candidate must get at least 270 of these votes.
Usually, all states wear their party allegiences on their sleeves i.e some of them clearly Republican (red) or Democrat (blue). However, the undecided states are called swing states which could go either way.
According to the Financial Times, these are the key swing states in this elections. Within parenthesis the number of elector college votes each state is allocated.
Arizona (11 electoral college votes),
Colorado (9)
Florida (29),
Iowa (6)
Nevada (6)
New Hampshire (4)
North Carolina (15)
Ohio (18)
Pennsylvania (20)
Virginia (13)
Let’s see whether Turmp or Hilary makes to the White House
