It's not the popular vote that decides who wins the presidency — it's the outcome of the Electoral College​. This map shows how many votes each state gets in 2024.

Presidential elections in the U.S. aren't decided by popular vote. They are instead determined by the Electoral College. Here's how it works.

For starters, the name is deceptive. The Electoral College is not a group of people, but rather a “process” that consists of the “selection of electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for president and vice president, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress,” according to The National Archives and Records Administration.

The system allocates 538 votes across the country, and a candidate needs a majority, or 270 votes, to win. Here's how the Electoral College works. The college is the way American voters indirectly choose the next president and vice president through each state's electors.

Michigan has 15 electoral votes. The winner of the 2024 presidential race will need an additional 255 if they win Michigan.