By Jennifer Shute | AZ MIRROR
WASHINGTON — The Electoral College could help Democrats avoid a complicated situation in the event President Joe Biden withdraws from the race after his name is printed on ballots.
States Newsroom reporters and editors in the network’s 39 states explored how a presidential candidate could be replaced on ballots — should the nominee drop out or become unable to continue their campaign following the party conventions.
While there were wildly varying answers, and some states won’t even contemplate the possibility, numerous officials pointed to the Electoral College process.
How that process works is often not well understood. When U.S. voters head to the polls the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November, they technically vote for electors, not the candidate.
Those electors then vote for a presidential candidate based on the results of the popular vote in that state, or in certain congressional districts.
The Electoral College is the reason on election night, maps show the race based on 270 electoral votes, not the countdown to one of the candidates winning the popular vote.
The somewhat complicated process made headlines eight years ago when Donald Trump won the Electoral College but not the popular vote and again four years ago when Trump allies sent slates of “fake electors” to Congress in an attempt to push aside the official results.
This report was written with contributions from States Newsroom’s 39 state news outlets.
