Please.
In: Planetary Science
The “electors” that you are referring to are a bit more obscure than you are making them out to be, even to Americans. Just to make it clear, the ballot in the US is usually fairly big, because every election from national to state to county to city elections are held at the same time. So for example, this year, I will be voting for President, a US senator, a US rep, a state senator, a state rep, county judges, county sheriff, county clerk, city council, (my city doesn’t have a mayor, but if we did, we would vote for that), and school board positions. Many states would also vote for state positions like governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, etc, but my state does those in even year elections that aren’t presidential elections. There will also be propositions that could be in the ballot at the state, county, and city level that are on the ballot. So the ballot is fairly big.
As for the electors, for almost every state (Nebraska and Maine are the only exceptions) the presidential election for the state is all or nothing, whoever wins for that state, whether by one vote or by millions, that candidate’s party will get to pick the electors for that state. So if Kamala Harris wins New York, then the New York Democratic Party will pick the electors for the state of New York. If Donald Trump wins Mississippi, the Mississippi Republican Party will pick the electors for the state of Mississippi. How they pick those and who they pick are left up to each state’s political party. It will usually just be party operatives in that state, so they know that these electors will vote for their candidate.
These electors then meet in December to officially vote for their candidate and these results are certified and sent to Congress. Yes, it is obscure, and yes, there is some mystery as the vast majority of people don’t know who these electors are. But everyone knows how they will vote, and like I said that is based on whoever got the most votes in that state.
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