(FILES) A person holds the certificate of votes from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania during a joint session of Congress after the session resumed following protests at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, early on January 7, 2021. 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 SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

(FILES) US President Joe Biden pauses as he concludes his address to the nation about his decision to not seek reelection, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on July 24, 2024. Courts, bullets and verbal stumbles have made their mark on this year's US election campaign -- one of the most extraordinary in the nation's history. At 1.46 pm on Sunday, July 21, a beleaguered President Biden announces in a tweet that he will not seek reelection, yielding to intense concerns over his ability to defeat Trump in November. It makes him the first sitting president since 1968 not to seek reelection, and upends the White House race. Kamala Harris, the first female, Black and Asian-American to serve as US vice president, gains Biden's endorsement to replace him in the campaign. (Photo by Evan Vucci / POOL / AFP) (Photo by EVAN VUCCI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

US Vice President Kamala Harris boards Air Force Two as she departs Augusta Regional Airport in Augusta, Georgia, after touring damage by Hurricane Helene on October 2, 2024. Harris is returning to Washington, DC, after delivering remarks on the Federal response after the passage of Hurricane Helene. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / POOL / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

US President Joe Biden walks to board Air Force One at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in Morrisville, North Carolina, on October 2, 2024, enroute to Washington, DC. Biden visited North and South Carolina to survey the damage after the passage of Hurricane Helene. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

US President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in Morrisville, North Carolina, on October 2, 2024, enroute to Washington, DC. Biden visited North and South Carolina to survey the damage after the passage of Hurricane Helene. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on October 02, 2024 shows former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign event at Discovery World in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 1, 2024 and Special counsel Jack Smith speaking to members of the media at the US Department of Justice building in Washington, DC, on August 1, 2023. Donald Trump launched a "private criminal effort" to subvert the 2020 US election and should not be shielded by presidential immunity, Special Counsel Jack Smith said in a court filing unsealed on October 2, 2024. Smith, in a 165-page motion arguing for the historic case against Trump to move forward, also provided new evidence of the former president's efforts to overturn the results of the election won by Democrat Joe Biden. (Photo by Jim WATSON and SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSONSAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

(FILES) (COMBO) This combination of pictures created on August 5, 2023 shows special counsel Jack Smith in Washington, DC, on August 1, 2023 and former US President Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, on November 8, 2022. Donald Trump launched a "private criminal effort" to subvert the 2020 US election and should not be shielded by presidential immunity, Special Counsel Jack Smith said in a court filing unsealed on October 2, 2024. Smith, in a 165-page motion arguing for the historic case against Trump to move forward, also provided new evidence of the former president's efforts to overturn the results of the election won by Democrat Joe Biden. (Photo by SAUL LOEB and Eva Marie UZCATEGUI / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEBEVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/AFP via Getty Images)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris boards Air Force Two at Augusta Regional Airport in Augusta, Ga., Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, en route to Washington, after visiting the area impacted by Hurricane Helene. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)