Jonah Patel
The Electoral College is a process established by the Founding Fathers in the US Constitution as a means of electing the President. It was designed as a compromise between electing the President by a vote in Congress and a popular vote of qualified citizens. The College consists of 538 electors, with each state electing a number of representatives equal to its number of Senators (two from each state) and its number of delegates in the House of Representatives. The District of Columbia, which has no voting representation in Congress, has three Electoral College votes. The process involves the selection of electors, the meeting of electors to vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of electoral votes by Congress. The candidate with the majority of electoral votes becomes the President. While the term electoral college does not appear in the Constitution, the Twelfth Amendment made adjustments to the system, including mandating distinct votes for President and Vice President.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Purpose | To elect the President of the United States |
| Established by | The Founding Fathers |
| Number of Electors | 538 |
| Majority required to elect the President | 270 |
| Electors' meeting date | First Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December |
| Voting procedure | Electors vote for President and Vice President separately |
| Amendment | The 12th Amendment eliminated most ties and deadlocks |
| Constitutional recognition | The Constitution does not use the term "Electoral College" but mentions "electors" |
| Reform proposals | Over 700 proposals introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College |
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What You'll Learn
The Electoral College was established as a compromise
The Electoral College was created by the framers of the U.S. Constitution as an alternative to electing the president by popular vote or by Congress. Each state elects a number of representatives to the Electoral College equal to its number of Senators (two from each state) plus its number of delegates in the House of Representatives. The District of Columbia, which has no voting representation in Congress, has three Electoral College votes.
The Twelfth Amendment made a series of adjustments to the Electoral College system. For the electors, it mandated that a distinct vote be taken for the president and vice president. One of the candidates must be someone who is not from the same state as the elector. If no candidate has a majority vote, or in the case of a tie, the House of Representatives chooses the president, and the Senate chooses the vice president.
The Electoral College has been criticised as "archaic" and "ambiguous", and public opinion polls have shown that most Americans favour abolishing it. However, supporters argue that it is a fundamental part of the original Constitution and that the Twelfth Amendment has successfully addressed issues of ties and deadlocks.
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The role of electors
The Electoral College is a process for electing the President of the United States, established by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution. It was designed as a compromise between electing the President by a vote in Congress and electing the President by popular vote.
The selection of electors is done through a popular vote in most states, known as a "winner-take-all" system, where all electors are awarded to the candidate who wins the state's popular vote. However, Maine and Nebraska have a variation of "proportional representation," where electors are assigned based on congressional districts.
After the general election, the state's executive prepares a Certificate of Ascertainment, listing the names of the individuals on the slates for each candidate, the number of votes received, and the appointed electors. The electors then meet and cast their official votes for President and Vice President.
The Twelfth Amendment made adjustments to the Electoral College system, mandating that distinct votes be taken for President and Vice President. It also stipulated that one of the selected candidates must not be from the same state as the elector. If no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the House of Representatives chooses the President, and the Senate chooses the Vice President.
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Voting procedure
The Electoral College is a process, not a place, established by the Founding Fathers in the US Constitution. It was created as an alternative to electing the president by popular vote or by Congress. The College consists of 538 electors, with 270 votes required to win the presidential election.
The voting procedure for the Electoral College is as follows:
- Voters in each state choose electors to serve in the Electoral College on Election Day.
- The State Executive of each state signs a Certificate of Ascertainment to appoint the electors chosen in the general election.
- Electors in each state meet to cast their votes for President and Vice President.
- Congress meets in a joint session to count the electoral votes.
- The President-Elect is sworn in as President of the United States on Inauguration Day.
The Twelfth Amendment mandates that a distinct vote must be taken for the president and the vice president. It also stipulates that one of the candidates must not be from the same state as the elector. If there is no majority winner or a tie, the House of Representatives chooses the president, and the Senate chooses the vice president.
The Electoral College has been criticised for allowing candidates to win the presidency without winning the popular vote. There have been five such instances in history, including the 2000 and 2016 elections.
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Amendments to the Electoral College
The Founding Fathers established the Electoral College in the Constitution as a compromise between electing the president by a vote in Congress and electing the president by popular vote. The term "electoral college" does not appear in the Constitution, but the 12th Amendment refers to "electors".
The Twelfth Amendment (Amendment XII) to the United States Constitution, proposed by Congress on December 9, 1803, and ratified on June 15, 1804, provides the procedure for electing the president and vice president. It replaced the procedure in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, under which the Electoral College originally functioned. The amendment changed the process whereby a president and a vice president are elected. It stipulates that each elector must cast distinct votes for president and vice president, instead of two votes for president. This amendment was proposed after the 1800 election, which exposed the problems with the original Electoral College voting procedure.
There have been many proposals to amend the Electoral College over the years. Under the most common method for amending the Constitution, an amendment must be proposed by a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress and ratified by three-fourths of the states. More than 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College. Bills have been introduced in Congress on several occasions to amend the Constitution to abolish or reduce the power of the Electoral College and to provide for the direct popular election of the president and vice president. The closest the US has come to abolishing the Electoral College was during the 91st Congress (1969–1971).
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Public opinion on the Electoral College
The Electoral College has been a topic of debate for many years, with a majority of Americans having opposed it for decades. Public opinion polls have shown that Americans favoured abolishing it by majorities of 58% in 1967, 81% in 1968, and 75% in 1981.
More recently, in 2024, a Pew Research Center survey of 9,720 adults found that 63% would prefer to see the winner of the presidential election be the person who wins the most votes nationally, while 35% favour retaining the Electoral College system. Similarly, a Gallup poll from September 2024 found that nearly six in 10 Americans prefer that the presidential election winner be determined by the popular vote rather than the Electoral College.
The partisan divide in views has emerged, with Republicans generally favouring the Electoral College while Democrats oppose it. In 2016, after Donald Trump won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote, only 17% of Republicans supported a popular vote system, while 81% wanted to keep the Electoral College. By 2024, Republican support for a popular vote system had risen to 32%, while 53% still favoured keeping the Electoral College. Among Democrats, there are only modest ideological differences, with 87% of liberal Democrats and 74% of conservative and moderate Democrats preferring a popular vote system.
The Electoral College has faced criticism for being undemocratic and rooted in racism, as well as for creating swing states and overrepresenting the views of small numbers of people. On the other hand, supporters argue that it balances power between large and small states, brings stability, and prevents demagogues from rising to power.
Some have proposed reforms to the Electoral College, such as individual states adopting systems that better reflect their populations' political diversity or a constitutional amendment requiring states to allocate electoral votes proportionally. However, the task of reform is daunting due to the polarisation of politics and the difficulty of amending the Constitution.
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Frequently asked questions
The Electoral College is a process, not a place. It is a means of electing the President of the United States.
The Founding Fathers established the Electoral College in the Constitution as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and election by popular vote. The term "electoral college" does not appear in the Constitution, but it refers to "electors".
Voters in each state choose electors to serve in the Electoral College. These electors then meet to select the President and Vice President. The number of electors is equal to the number of Senators (two from each state) plus the number of delegates in the House of Representatives.
There are currently 538 electors in the Electoral College. It takes 270 votes to win the presidential election.
Yes. There have been five candidates who have won the popular vote but lost in the Electoral College, most recently in 2016 and 2000.
