The magic number each party is chasing in the US presidential election is 270 — the number of Electoral College votes they would need to be declared the victor.
That means that a candidate who gets more votes
.
In the last days before the vote, Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump were campaigning hard in swing states, particularly Pennsylvania, which has the most Electoral College votes of the battleground states.
How does the Electoral College work?
as a compromise between a vote in Congress and a popular vote by citizens.
Every four years, a temporary group of electors is created — and it's technically these people, not the American public, who vote for the president.
There are 538 electors in total, who are expected to vote for the winner of the popular vote in their state (or in the case of two of Nebraska and Maine's electors, the winner of each congressional district), but it's not a legal requirement everywhere.
Source: SBS News
What happens if nobody gets 270 votes?
It's unlikely that neither candidate will reach 270 votes.
There are two scenarios where this would technically be possible — the first is if each candidate wins 269 Electoral College votes.
The second way this could happen would be if so-called "faithless electors" choose to vote for someone who is not Harris or Trump for president.
In 2016, seven electors in Hawaii, Texas and Washington state voted for someone other than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.
If the Electoral College vote isn't able to come up with a victor, the House of Representatives will vote on who the next president is.
This has only happened twice — in 1800 and in 1824.
