Donald Trump won the Electoral College presidential election in 2016, as did George W. Bush in 2000, even though both received fewer electoral votes than their opponents.
The Elekstor College is a unique American system for electing presidents.
It differs from "regular" voting and has a huge impact on how candidates run their campaigns.
Trump and Bush, both Republicans, did not win the majority of the vote, but they won the Electoral College and thus became president of the United States of America (USA).
Some Democrats argue that the system favors Republicans and that it would be better if the US elected presidents by a simple majority vote.
But the Electoral College is a system described in the US Constitution, so a constitutional amendment would be required to change it.
The Electoral College is a body of 538 members that elects the president.
The writers of the constitution put it in place to give more power to the states and to avoid the possibility of parliament deciding on the president.
Electors from each state vote for the candidate who received the majority of votes in that state.
The runner-up gets nothing, except in Nebraska and Maine where electoral votes are proportionally awarded based on statewide results.
To win the presidency, a candidate must receive 270 electoral votes, which is a simple majority out of 538 possible.
Trump crossed that threshold today with his victory in Wisconsin.
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Under the electoral college system, more weight is given to one vote in a small state than to the vote of someone in a large state, resulting in the vote of the electors sometimes not matching the vote of the people.
Electors are distributed based on how many representatives the federal state has in parliament, plus its two senators.
The exception is the city of Washington, which receives three electors, despite the fact that the House of Congress has no voting rights in Congress.
California has the most electoral votes (54), followed by Texas (40) and Florida (30).
This varies from state to state, but electors are often chosen by parties, and members of the US House of Representatives cannot serve as electors.
This year it will happen on December 17.
If two candidates have an equal number of electoral votes, the future president is decided in the parliament, where the delegation of each state gets one vote.
This happened only twice, in 1801 and 1825.
After the voters of a state confirm their vote, they send the certificate to the parliament.
The Assembly then formally counts and confirms the votes at a special session on January 6.
Lawmakers can object to state results during ratification votes, as several Republicans did after the 2020 election, but those objections were rejected.
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