Explore how states and the District of Columbia receive electoral votes, how those votes are usually allocated, and how different allocation rules would change the way the totals are counted.
Each state has electors equal to its U.S. senators plus its representatives, and the District of Columbia receives three electors under the Twenty-Third Amendment. These 2020 Census-based allocations apply to the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections. Select any state to see why it has the number of votes it has, then switch allocation modes to compare winner-take-all, the district method used by Maine and Nebraska, and a proportional simulation.
Most states award all of their electoral votes to the statewide popular-vote winner.
Forty-eight states and DC currently award all their electoral votes to the statewide popular-vote winner. This is a state choice, not a uniform constitutional requirement.
Maine and Nebraska award two statewide electoral votes to the statewide winner and one electoral vote to the winner in each congressional district.
No state currently uses the simple proportional model shown here. It is included to illustrate how a different allocation formula could distribute a state’s electoral votes.
Where the facts on this page come from: Allocation rules and electoral-vote values reflect the 2020 Census apportionment cycle. Sources: National Archives: Distribution of Electoral Votes and CRS Electoral College Overview.