That is, are they chosen by the candidate, or by the state? For example, when we say that a candidate won twenty electoral votes, what we mean is that 20 people hand-selected by the candidate will get to cast their vote for that candidate. Before the election happens, there are actually 40 total people from that state who could cast a vote, 20 selected by each candidate (assuming a two party election, of course). When the state’s votes are counted, the 20 selected by the candidate that won are chosen to vote.