The candidate that gets the vote of 270 electors wins the presidential election. A projected winner is announced in November, but the actual Electoral College vote happens in mid-December.

The Electoral College is written into the Constitution, under Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, though the term "electoral college" itself does not appear in the document.

How does the Electoral College work? There are 538 total electoral votes given to each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. based on how many members of Congress it has in Washington.