Malak MJ
01-26-2013, 09:24 PM
By Malak Mawajdeh & Sabal AlNasser
The Electoral College is the institution that officially elects the President and Vice President of the United States every four years. It is composed of citizens in each state who, in conjunction with the popular vote on Election Day, decide which candidates become president and vice president.
So the president is not elected directly by popular vote. The Founding Fathers concluded that it was safer to have a "college" of knowledgeable persons (or Electors) to do the job.
Today, each state gets electors equal to the number of its U.S. senators (always 2) plus the number of its U.S. representatives (which varies based on population).
Each state gets a number of electors equal to its number of members in the U.S. House of Representatives plus one for each of its two U.S. Senators. The District of Columbia gets three electors. While state laws determine how electors are chosen, they are generally selected by the political party committees within the states.
Each elector gets one vote. Thus, a state with eight electors would cast eight votes. There are currently 538 electors and the votes of a majority of them -- 270 votes -- are required to be elected. Since Electoral College representation is based on congressional representation, states with larger populations get more Electoral College votes.
As you might expect, electors tend to be people who are hyperactive in local politics. However, almost anyone can be an elector. The only ineligible folks are criminals, current politicians and wild-eyed revolutionaries intent on violent, domestic regime change.
After Election Day, electors are obligated to vote for the party slate that won the most popular votes in their state. And In December, electors meet in their respective state capitals and cast their electoral votes — one for president and one for vice president.
While the state electors are pledged to vote for the candidate of the party that chose them, nothing in the Constitution requires them to do so. In rare instances, an elector will defect and not vote for his or her party's candidate. Such "faithless" votes rarely change the outcome of the election and laws of some states prohibit electors from casting them.
The votes are sealed and sent to the President of the U.S. Senate who, in January, opens and reads them before both houses of Congress.
The presidential candidate with an absolute majority of electoral votes (the minimum of half the total plus one) is declared president.
At noon on Jan. 20, the duly elected president and vice president are sworn into office.
You might all wonder that what if no one gets a majority of the Electoral College's votes?
If no candidate can grab a majority (currently 270) of the Electoral College's votes, the House of Representatives meets immediately to pick the new president.
In this situation, each state's Congressmen get together and pick a candidate among the top three vote getters in the Electoral College balloting.
Each state's delegation then casts one vote. This process keeps going on indefinitely until a single candidate receives a majority of the states' votes.
Another question might cross your minds which is why the delay between the general election and the Electoral College meetings?
Back in the 1800s, it simply took that long to count the popular votes and for all the electors to travel to the state capitals. Today, the time is more likely to be used for settling any protests due to election code violations and for vote recount.
It is possible for a candidate to not get a single person's vote -- not one -- in 39 states or the District of Columbia, yet be elected president by winning the popular vote in just 11 of these 12 states: California, New York, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia.
There are 538 total votes in the Electoral College and a presidential candidate must win a majority -- 270 -- electoral vote to be elected. Since 11 of the 12 states in the chart above account for exactly 270 votes, a candidate could win these states, lose the other 39, and still be elected.
Of course, a candidate popular enough to win California or New York will almost certainly win some smaller states, as well.. But, when you play with popularity and numbers, anything can happen.
ELECTORAL COLLEGE SUMMARY
•Votes cast by the people of the United States -- known as the "popular vote" -- are used to choose the president and vice president "indirectly" through the Electoral College.
•Popular votes cast in the presidential election are actually being cast for a number of electors. Each state gets a number of electors equal to the state's number of representatives in the House and Senate.
•There are a total of 538 electors.
•The candidate winning the most popular votes in a state gets all of that state’s electoral votes.
•The first candidate to win 270 or more electoral votes is elected.
And last but not least, it is imperative to know that it is possible for a candidate to lose the popular vote and still be elected president by the Electoral College. Four presidents have been elected in this manner: John Quincy Adams in 1824, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888 and George W. Bush in 2000.
The Electoral College is the institution that officially elects the President and Vice President of the United States every four years. It is composed of citizens in each state who, in conjunction with the popular vote on Election Day, decide which candidates become president and vice president.
So the president is not elected directly by popular vote. The Founding Fathers concluded that it was safer to have a "college" of knowledgeable persons (or Electors) to do the job.
Today, each state gets electors equal to the number of its U.S. senators (always 2) plus the number of its U.S. representatives (which varies based on population).
Each state gets a number of electors equal to its number of members in the U.S. House of Representatives plus one for each of its two U.S. Senators. The District of Columbia gets three electors. While state laws determine how electors are chosen, they are generally selected by the political party committees within the states.
Each elector gets one vote. Thus, a state with eight electors would cast eight votes. There are currently 538 electors and the votes of a majority of them -- 270 votes -- are required to be elected. Since Electoral College representation is based on congressional representation, states with larger populations get more Electoral College votes.
As you might expect, electors tend to be people who are hyperactive in local politics. However, almost anyone can be an elector. The only ineligible folks are criminals, current politicians and wild-eyed revolutionaries intent on violent, domestic regime change.
After Election Day, electors are obligated to vote for the party slate that won the most popular votes in their state. And In December, electors meet in their respective state capitals and cast their electoral votes — one for president and one for vice president.
While the state electors are pledged to vote for the candidate of the party that chose them, nothing in the Constitution requires them to do so. In rare instances, an elector will defect and not vote for his or her party's candidate. Such "faithless" votes rarely change the outcome of the election and laws of some states prohibit electors from casting them.
The votes are sealed and sent to the President of the U.S. Senate who, in January, opens and reads them before both houses of Congress.
The presidential candidate with an absolute majority of electoral votes (the minimum of half the total plus one) is declared president.
At noon on Jan. 20, the duly elected president and vice president are sworn into office.
You might all wonder that what if no one gets a majority of the Electoral College's votes?
If no candidate can grab a majority (currently 270) of the Electoral College's votes, the House of Representatives meets immediately to pick the new president.
In this situation, each state's Congressmen get together and pick a candidate among the top three vote getters in the Electoral College balloting.
Each state's delegation then casts one vote. This process keeps going on indefinitely until a single candidate receives a majority of the states' votes.
Another question might cross your minds which is why the delay between the general election and the Electoral College meetings?
Back in the 1800s, it simply took that long to count the popular votes and for all the electors to travel to the state capitals. Today, the time is more likely to be used for settling any protests due to election code violations and for vote recount.
It is possible for a candidate to not get a single person's vote -- not one -- in 39 states or the District of Columbia, yet be elected president by winning the popular vote in just 11 of these 12 states: California, New York, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia.
There are 538 total votes in the Electoral College and a presidential candidate must win a majority -- 270 -- electoral vote to be elected. Since 11 of the 12 states in the chart above account for exactly 270 votes, a candidate could win these states, lose the other 39, and still be elected.
Of course, a candidate popular enough to win California or New York will almost certainly win some smaller states, as well.. But, when you play with popularity and numbers, anything can happen.
ELECTORAL COLLEGE SUMMARY
•Votes cast by the people of the United States -- known as the "popular vote" -- are used to choose the president and vice president "indirectly" through the Electoral College.
•Popular votes cast in the presidential election are actually being cast for a number of electors. Each state gets a number of electors equal to the state's number of representatives in the House and Senate.
•There are a total of 538 electors.
•The candidate winning the most popular votes in a state gets all of that state’s electoral votes.
•The first candidate to win 270 or more electoral votes is elected.
And last but not least, it is imperative to know that it is possible for a candidate to lose the popular vote and still be elected president by the Electoral College. Four presidents have been elected in this manner: John Quincy Adams in 1824, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888 and George W. Bush in 2000.