Q 01/05

How many electors make up the Electoral College, a total that has stayed the same since the 1964 election?

A) 100

B) 250

C) 538

D) 1,200

Answer · why

C) 538

538 mirrors the size of Congress: 100 senators and 435 congressional districts, plus three electors for the District of Columbia.

Q 02/05

Which president is the only one elected unanimously by the Electoral College, winning every elector in 1789 and 1792?

A) Thomas Jefferson

B) George Washington

C) Dwight D. Eisenhower

D) Abraham Lincoln

Answer · why

B) George Washington

George Washington won a vote from all 69 electors in 1789 and all 132 in 1792. No later candidate has managed even one clean sweep.

Q 03/05

Which state lost an electoral vote after the 2020 census, the first time its total has shrunk since statehood in 1850?

A) Illinois

B) Michigan

C) West Virginia

D) California

Answer · why

D) California

California still has 54 electoral votes, the most of any state, but slower growth cost it one of its 53 congressional districts.

Q 04/05

Which body picks the president when nobody wins an Electoral College majority, as happened after the 1824 election?

A) The House of Representatives

B) The United States Senate

C) The Supreme Court

D) The outgoing president's Cabinet

Answer · why

A) The House of Representatives

The House of Representatives decides, with each state's delegation casting a single vote, so the smallest state counts exactly as much as the largest.

Q 05/05

Which federal agency, keeper of the Declaration of Independence, coordinates the Electoral College process?

A) The Library of Congress

B) The National Archives

C) The Smithsonian Institution

D) The Federal Election Commission

Answer · why

B) The National Archives

The National Archives runs the process through its Office of the Federal Register, which handles the paperwork between the states and Congress but nev...