How does the electoral college system work?

- Each state has a value of electoral college votes, based on the number of Congresspersons plus the number of Senators (+2) - the 23rd Amendment gave D.C. three - Candidates compete on a state-by-state basis - All state use a winner-takes-all system - for Maine and Nebraska they use this, but two of their ECV are allocated to the winner of the whole state, and further ECV are awarded to the winner in each district - To win the presidency, a candidate requires more than 50% of the electoral votes - 270 of 538 - The ECV number represents the number of electors who are selected