BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Voters across the country will see school levies and issues on the ballot in the general election, which are decided by the popular vote — if the majority votes yes, then it goes into effect.
But presidential elections are different though. They use the Electoral College to decide.
Each state has a different number of electors who make up the national 538-member body and vote for each state's popular vote winner. Candidates must secure a majority of those electors' votes — 270 — to win.
"We know that it's possible and it's becoming increasingly debated infrequent that presidents can win the presidency without winning the popular vote," said Joshua Boston, an assistant professor in Bowling Green State University's political science department.
Former Presidents Donald Trump in 2016 and George W. Bush in 2000 both won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote.
Boston and his colleagues surveyed 1170 Ohio voters with several questions, one of them being whether they supported the Electoral College or the national popular vote to decide the U.S. president.
"Fifty-four percent of our respondents said that they favor the national popular vote, which suggests maybe some long-term backlash against the Electoral College," Boston said.
Wood County voter Donna Colcord supports the popular vote.
"I think that it becomes much more indicative with what the true vote is. I'm not sure that the Electoral College picks that up," Colcord said.
But voter Bryan Hickman, also in Wood County, thinks the Electoral College should stay.
"I think the Electoral College and Senate are two ways that you help small states have a somewhat proportionate way of contributing to the overall national conversation," Hickman said.
Whichever side you're on, the Electoral College will decide who wins the 2024 presidential election.
Don't expect the results on Election Day though, Boston said. Laws regarding absentee ballots vary by state.
"In some states, they cannot open some of those ballots until Tuesday, even if they've been received many weeks earlier," Boston said. "It'll take a long time for some states to process those ballots and get them scanned and counted."