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Maybe title isn't 100% accurate.

So let's say there is state X, where people have to pick 30 electors. As I know there is a rule 'winner takes all'. What happens when one of parties win in state slightly? I mean 51% voters picked 20 electors who supports candidate A, and 49% of them voted for 20 electors supporting candidate B. Which one electors will be chose to "final" voting (sorry for lack of specialist vocabulary)?

I mean state needs to type 30 people, but there is only 20 from victory party. What happens then?

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  • The situation you describe could never occur. While the exact rules vary from state to state, essentially a voter is voting for a set of electors chosen by the party, and the most votes for a given party/candidate selects that set of electors, so where there is winner takes all, the set of electors is equal to the total number of electors for that state
    – eques
    Nov 11, 2016 at 16:56

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Voters do not pick any number of electors directly. If a state has 30 electors and party A wins with 51% of the popular vote, then 30 electors supporting the candidate for party A will be chosen.

Any party who received any electors will receive all 30.

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  • Ok, that's what I thought (about parties). Well, but I thought voters picks particular electors, doesn't it depend on state? Who chose these 30 electors? Party power?
    – Szkaplerny
    Nov 9, 2016 at 2:10
  • No, there is no state where voters pick electors directly. Almost no one except party leaders have any idea who the electors even are. The electors are typically trusted party members.
    – indigochild
    Nov 9, 2016 at 2:48
  • Expect that ones faithless? ;) Thanks for answers, I'm from EU, so maybe my questions were silly :/
    – Szkaplerny
    Nov 9, 2016 at 2:57
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    @Szkaplerny despite the talk of "faithless electors"; it's an extremely rare occurrence. There was one in 2000 and the last time a faithless elector crossed party lines was 1972.
    – eques
    Nov 11, 2016 at 16:53
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Almost all states follow a "winner-takes-all" policy: if a candidate gets a plurality of the vote in that state, then the group of electors chosen by that candidate's party are the ones who vote.

There are two exceptions to this: Nebraska and Maine. In those states, two electors are allocated to the party that wins a plurality statewide. Additionally, one elector is allocated for each congressional district that a party's candidate wins.

Note that this is plurality, not majority. Utah is likely to split 35% Trump/25% McMullan/25% Clinton/5% other. Despite not getting a majority, the Republicans would still get all six electoral votes from that state.

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