ELECTORAL COLLEGE

The candidate who wins each state's popular vote typically earns that state's electors. This year, those electors meet on Dec. 14 to cast votes, one ballot for president, one for vice-president. Both chambers of Congress will meet on Jan. 6 to count the votes and name the winner. But — in the case of two different election results submitted by the governor and the legislature, under the Electoral Count Act of 1887, each chamber of Congress separately decides which slate to accept. The electoral count is conducted by the new Congress, which is sworn in on Jan. 3. If the two chambers disagree, the act says the electors approved by each state's “executive” should prevail. Many scholars interpret that as a state's governor, others don't. One law professor called the ECA's wording “virtually impenetrable” in this context. The law has never been tested or interpreted by the courts.