- Any certified party nominating candidates for President and Vice President and any petition candidate for President and Vice President must nominate a number of electors equal to the state's number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate (nine electors total in 2020).
- Each candidate for elector must declare which candidate for President and Vice President he will vote for if elected.
- At least sixty days prior to Election Day, the political parties and petition candidates file their electors' names along with their candidate declarations with the Secretary of State.
- On Election Day, the names for candidates for President and Vice President appear on the ballot. Votes for the candidates for President and Vice President named on the ballot are votes for the political parties' electors or the petition candidates' electors.
- After the election, the State Board of Canvassers meets to certify the election. Certified results are sent to the Secretary of State.
- Electors must convene at 11:00 a.m. on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December in the Secretary of State's office. The electors then vote by ballot for President and Vice President.
- Those elected must vote for the candidate for whom they declared. Any person selected to fill a vacancy in the Electoral College must vote for the same candidate for whom the person he is replacing declared. Any elector who votes contrary to their declaration shall be deemed guilty of violating the election laws of the State and upon conviction shall be punished according to law. However, the executive committee of the party from which an elector was elected may relieve the elector from the obligation of his declaration when, in its judgment, circumstances shall have arisen which, in the opinion of the committee, it would not be in the best interest of the State for the elector to cast his ballot for such a candidate.
For more information on how the Electoral College works in South Carolina, see sections 7-9-90, 7-19-70, 7-19-80, 7-19-90, 7-19-100, 7-19-110, and 7-19-120 of the S.C. Code of Laws.
For information about how the Electoral College works nationally, visit the Electoral College section of the U.S. National Archives website.