The total would be increased if new states were added to the union. It could also be increased by constitutional amendment.
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270 electoral votes
270 electoral votes in the Electoral College are needed to win the U.S. presidency. Each state has electoral votes equal to the total of the 2 representative the state has in the U.S. Senate plus the number of representative the state has in the House of Representatives. Since every state has two senators and at least one representative to the House, every state has at least 3 electoral votes. The District of Columbia gets 3 electoral votes. Therefore, the total number of electoral votes is 538 - 100 (senators) + 435 (representatives) + 3 (for DC). A majority is 270 - one more than half of the total number of 538.
270 electoral votes in the Electoral College are needed to win the U.S. presidency. Each state has electoral votes equal to the total of the 2 representative the state has in the U.S. Senate plus the number of representative the state has in the House of Representatives. Since every state has two senators and at least one representative to the House, every state has at least 3 electoral votes. The District of Columbia gets 3 electoral votes. Therefore, the total number of electoral votes is 538 - 100 (senators) + 435 (representatives) + 3 (for DC). A majority is 270 - one more than half of the total number of 538.
The United States requires 270 electoral votes for a candidate to win the presidency. Since there are a total of 538 votes available, a candidate can lose with 268 votes.
Yes you could. That is why electoral votes are weird.