Here's how the Electoral College works in presidential elections

WASHINGTON — On Monday, 538 members of the Electoral College will convene in state capitol buildings across the country to validate President-Elect Joe Biden’s victory.

The electors — including 29 in New York — are mandated under the Constitution to meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, and will submit their votes to Congress, which will count the votes during a special joint session on Jan. 6, making the results official before the Jan. 20 inauguration.

Biden, defeated Trump in both the electoral vote and the popular vote — garnering 306 state electoral votes to Trump’s 232, and 7 million more votes in the popular count. At least 270 electoral votes are required to secure the presidency.

While outgoing President Donald Trump has sought to cast doubt on the outcome of the Nov. 3 election, lodging unfounded claims of widespread fraud, all 50 states have certified their election results. Federal courts, including the Supreme Court, have dismissed dozens of lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign aimed at invalidating the election results, with judges often citing lack of evidence for the dismissals.

New York’s 29 electors are slated to meet at noon in Albany in a socially distant session. The state’s electors, selected by party leaders this summer, include former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli of Great Neck Plaza and Jay Jacobs, chairman of both the Nassau and state Democratic committees.

Each presidential election provides Americans with the quadrennial reminder that the winner is ultimately decided through a centuries-old system that was developed by the Founding Fathers and enshrined in the Constitution.

Here’s a quick refresher:

What is the Electoral College?

The Electoral College has been described as a compromise between those framers of the Constitution who wanted Congress to select a president and those who wanted a popular vote to decide the presidency.

Under the current system, established in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, every four years a body of delegates that are appointed by state party officials, typically party leaders and loyalists, meet about a month after Election Day to cast votes that make the election results in their states official. This year the electors will meet in their respective states on Dec. 14.

There are 538 delegates — each state gets apportioned delegates based on the size of their congressional delegation. For example, New York with two senators and 27 U.S. House members has 29 electoral votes in play. The District of Columbia receives 3 electors. An absolute majority — 270 electoral votes — is needed to win.

Most states, with the exception of Maine and Nebraska, award all the electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote in their state. There have been several failed attempts to reform the system by those who argue it does not treat all voters equally, given the extra focus on swing state voters. Critics also note the system was devised in part not to give enslaved Blacks a full vote, only counting them as three-fifths of a person, until that standard was repealed by the 14th Amendment.

"The framers intended that the electors in the college would be more informed and intelligent than the average citizen," said Paul Schumaker, a professor emeritus in political science at the University of Kansas. "They would consider only the most highly qualified candidates from throughout the country. They did that for the first 30 years — the first six presidents were all blue bloods and really experienced political leaders by contemporary standards."

Schumaker said, "Democratic norms evolved that called for, and granted, ordinary citizens having a greater role in selecting the president," including the development of the two main political parties.

Can an elector vote for someone other than the candidate who won the popular vote in their state?

Yes, but it rarely happens, except for the last presidential election when 10 electors cast a ballot for someone other than the candidate who won their state’s popular vote. Before 2016, cases of rogue electors were infrequent and usually limited to one protest vote every few election cycles.

In July, the Supreme Court ruled that states could enforce "faithless electors" laws that penalize those electors who go rogue.

Currently 32 states have laws that penalize "faithless electors" with fines or by invalidating their vote.

New York does not have any such laws on the books, but Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has supported a national effort aimed at getting states to commit their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote.

In 2014, Cuomo signed legislation that added New York to the National Popular Vote Compact. But the compact only takes effect once enough states sign on to reach at least 270 electoral votes. So far the effort has only reached 196 electoral votes, according to NationalPopularVote.com.

Those who support awarding electors based on the national vote argue that presidential candidates often overlook reliably Blue or Red states and focus solely on the handful of battleground states.

"Making the national popular vote a binding one will enable all voices to be heard and encourage candidates to appeal to voters in all states," Cuomo said in December 2016.

What happens after the Electoral College vote?

The votes are then delivered to Congress, which will count the results during a special joint session on Jan. 6.

The president of the Senate — Vice President Mike Pence — is tasked with formally announcing the winners.

Some Trump allies in the U.S. House have floated the possibility of raising objections to the count during the Jan. 6 session, but they would need support from at least one U.S. senator for the objection to be considered. The procedural move would delay the vote as each chamber would meet separately to debate the objections for up to two hours, according to the Congressional Research Service. But ultimately Republicans would need the Democratic-controlled House to vote in agreement with the objections, which is unlikely to occur.