States With Highest Electoral Votes. In order to be elected to office, a candidate must win an absolute majority of electoral votes. Roosevelt carried every state except maine and vermont, which together cast eight electoral votes.

See the table below for the states with the most electoral votes according to apportionment data from the 2010 census. In states where polls put the two candidates in a relatively close race, pennsylvania has 20, ohio has 18, michigan has 16, north carolina has 15, wisconsin has 10 and arizona has nine. The state’s population increased by 3,382,308 or 10 percent to 37,253,956 in 2010.