With less than a week to go before Election Day, Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump are in a competitive battle to attract undecided voters to their camps. Although the United States is thought to be a leader of democracy, there are many exceptions to the basic idea of “one person, one vote.” One of the most famous exceptions is the Electoral College, the process by which the U.S. elects its President and Vice President.Each of the 50 U.S. states has a number of electoral votes, which is based on the number of its Representatives and Senators in the U.S. Congress. Take New York for example. New York has 27 Representatives in Congress, and, like all states, two Senators. It has 29 electoral votes.As there are 100 Senators and 435 Representatives in the House, plus three electoral votes for Washington, D.C. (which is not a state), a total of 538 electoral votes make up the Electoral College. Winning 270 or more Electoral College votes is required to become president.Except for Nebraska and Maine, each state’s electoral college votes are awarded winner-take-all, so whoever wins the most votes in a state wins all of that state’s electoral votes — 51% of the vote in New York is good for all 29 of its electoral votes.In 2016, Donald Trump won the presidency by eeking out small margins of victory in several “swing states” like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, which allowed him to win the presidency despite losing the national popular vote. Though former Vice President Joe Biden is likely to win the popular vote in 2020, the race is still competitive because President Trump can still win more electoral votes.Harris' US-China-Taiwan Relations PolicyTrump's US-China-Taiwan Relations PolicyHarris' Diplomacy PolicyTrump's Diplomacy PolicyHarris' Internal Affairs PolicyTrump's Internal Affairs PolicyHarris' In Comparison with the Predecessors PolicyTrump's In Comparison with the Predecessors Policy