How America’s electoral system works

One of the conundrums of the US electoral system is that you don’t win the White House by getting an overall majority – after all, Donald Trump finished three million votes behind Hillary Clinton four years ago.

Instead, Americans vote for 538 members of the electoral college: delegates assigned to each state based on the number of Congressional and Senate seats they have. These delegates then vote for the President.

2020 is even more complicated because of the vast numbers of people who’ve voted in advance or by post – and, because nothing is simple, every state has different rules. So here’s how it all works.