Red states, blue states, and the Electoral College

When I left the United States in 1991 to spend a year in Berlin (which has turned into a life in Germany and then Switzerland), the concept of "red states and blue states" for "Republican and Democratic states" was unknown; that specific color-coding only arose during the contested 2000 presidential election. But there had long been United States maps showing which states presidential candidates had won. Such maps are a result of the Electoral College system; with a vote for President that only tallied who won the most votes in the whole country, there would be no red states or blue states (at least as far as the presidency is concerned). (Andrew Shields, #111words, 30 October 2022)