How the election works in 100 wordsEach state is worth a number of points known as "electoral college votes" related to the population of the state. California, the most populous US state, has 54 electoral college votes representing its 39 million population. In almost all states, if you win by just one vote, you get all the electoral college votes. There are 538 "points" in total. Most states are predictable - so it could all come down to seven swing states: Pennsylvania (19 electoral votes), Georgia (16), North Carolina (16), Michigan (15), Arizona (11), Wisconsin (10) and Nevada (6).
