(FILES) Senate pages carry the Electoral College ballot boxes to a joint session of Congress after the session resumed following protests on January 7, 2021 in Washington, DC. When political outsider Donald Trump defied polls and expectations to defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election, he described the victory as "beautiful." Not everyone saw it that way -- considering that Democrat Clinton had received nearly three million more votes nationally than her Republican rival. Non-Americans were particularly perplexed that the second-highest vote-getter would be crowned president. But Trump had done what the US system requires: win enough individual states, sometimes by very narrow margins, to surpass the 270 Electoral College votes necessary to win the White House. Now, as the 2024 election showdown between Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris approaches, the rules of this enigmatic and, to some, outmoded system is coming back into focus. (Photo by Olivier DOULIERY / AFP) (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)