After years of campaigning and the most unpredictable race in modern history, America will finally elect a president on Monday, Dec. 19.
Yes, you read that correctly: Dec. 19.
Why are you telling me this? Is this fake news? Wasn’t there a presidential election last month?
Yes, but technically 136 million Americans cast ballots on Nov. 8 to elect 538 representatives to the Electoral College. States have various procedures to pick electors, including selections by party, convention, or the national campaigns. But they will all meet Dec. 19 at state capitals and in the District of Columbia to participate in the Electoral College and vote for president.
So Donald Trump isn’t actually the president-elect?
Not officially until Dec. 19, although it’s highly unlikely that Donald Trump will lose the Electoral College then. In early US history, the Electoral College process was unpredictable, but it’s more recently just been a formality.
Yes, these electors can vote however they wish. The rules are dictated by individual states — some of which impose fines for not following the will of the state’s voters — but the electors are free to vote for anyone.
So far only one Republican elector, a paramedic from Texas, has publicly stated he will not vote for Trump. In the November election, Trump, in theory, earned 306 electoral votes (270 are needed to win). So in addition to the Texas elector, 36 other Republicans would have to decide not to vote for him Dec. 19.
What happens if Trump is denied the 270 votes he needs? Will Hillary Clinton become president?
That’s not likely either because of what would happen next, according to the US Constitution. If no candidate wins the Electoral College, the decision then goes to a “contingent election’’ in the US House of Representatives, where each state gets a vote. A person only needs a simple majority of 26 states to win.
Given that Trump won 30 out of 50 states and Republicans hold the majority in the US House, he would still be elected to the White House in all likelihood.
James Pindell can be reached at james.pindell@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jamespindell, or subscribe to his Ground Game newsletter on politics: www.bostonglobe.com/groundgame.
