On November 5, around 240 million Americans are called to choose between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as presidents, but the outcome of the elections will depend on a few thousand votes in a handful of key states due to the system of indirect democracy in the United States. It is the Electoral College, composed of 538 electors representing the states, that decides who the winner is.
Each state has a number of electors equivalent to the number of members in Congress, determined by its population. California, Texas, Florida, and New York are the ones providing the most electoral votes, while Alaska, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, Vermont, and the District of Columbia provide fewer. In most cases, the candidate who wins in a state takes all its electoral votes.
The key states with the highest number of electoral votes are Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Nevada, where the electoral campaigns have focused. These seven states will be decisive in determining whether Kamala Harris makes history as the first woman to reach the White House or if Donald Trump regains the presidency.
To be elected president, at least 270 electoral votes are required. In case of a tie, the House of Representatives would elect the president and the Senate would elect the vice president. Harris has 226 votes practically secured, while Trump has 219. The dispute focuses on the 93 votes from the seven undecided states, distributed across the Rust Belt and the Sun Belt, regions that hold geographical and demographic significance.
Referred to as swing or battleground states, Pennsylvania stands out for its 19 electoral votes and the crucial influence of Hispanic voters, the fastest-growing population in the last decade.
