US presidential polls 2016: Know about 'electors' who elect the President and Vice President

The President and Vice President of the United States of America are not elected directly by the people. They're chosen by 'electors' through a process called the Electoral College.

The method of using electors comes from the Constitution. It is a compromise between electing the President by a popular vote among citizens and electing the President in Congress.            

Number of Electors:

#The number of electors each state gets is determined by how many members of Congress (House and Senate) the state has. 

#There are a total of 538 electors in all that includes Washington, D.C.'s three electors. 

#Each state's political parties choose their own potential electors. 

#After a person cast her/his vote for President, the vote goes to a statewide tally.

#In 48 states and Washington, D.C., the winner gets all of the electoral votes for that state.This means his or her party's electors in that state will vote in the Electoral College. 

#A candidate needs the vote of at least 270 electors which is more than half of the number to win the Presidential election. 

#The Constitution doesn't require electors to vote according to the people they represent. But it's rare for an elector not to follow the people's and their party's choice.