Malcolm Rivera
The Electoral College is a process that was established by the Founding Fathers in the US Constitution. It involves the selection of electors, who meet and vote for the President and Vice President of the United States. The process is a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and a popular vote of qualified citizens. The term electoral college does not appear in the Constitution, but the process is part of its original design, and it would require a Constitutional amendment to change it. The Electoral College has been a topic of ongoing debate, with many proposals introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate it.
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What You'll Learn
- The Electoral College is a process, not a place
- The Electoral College is constitutionally mandated
- The Electoral College is the fourth national institution created by the Constitution
- The Electoral College was established as a compromise
- The Electoral College has been criticised as archaic and ambiguous
The Electoral College is a process, not a place
The Electoral College is a process that was established by the Founding Fathers in the US Constitution. It is not a place, but a mechanism for electing the President and Vice President of the United States. The College consists of 538 electors, who are chosen by voters in each state. These electors then meet and vote for the President and Vice President, and finally, Congress counts the electoral votes.
The process was designed as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and a popular vote of qualified citizens. The term "electoral college" does not appear in the Constitution, but the process is part of its original design. Article II of the Constitution and the 12th Amendment refer to “electors”, and the Supreme Court has affirmed that the appointment and mode of appointment of these electors belong exclusively to the states under the US Constitution.
The Founding Fathers intended for the Electoral College to be a check on the uninformed mass electorate, ensuring that the choice of the President reflected the "sense of the people" and was independent of the influence of "foreign powers". Alexander Hamilton argued that the Electoral College would prevent corruption in any state from tainting "the great body of the people" in their selection of the President. The College was also meant to channel the ambitions of major political figures, encouraging them to pursue a serious political career rather than what Hamilton called "the little arts of popularity".
The Electoral College has been the subject of much debate and proposed amendments since its inception. Critics argue that it is not representative of the popular will of the nation, and that it gives individual citizens in smaller states more voting power than those in larger states. Supporters, however, contend that it requires presidential candidates to have broad appeal across the country to win. Over 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College, and it remains a highly controversial issue in the United States.
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The Electoral College is constitutionally mandated
The Electoral College is a constitutionally mandated process, established by the Founding Fathers in the US Constitution. It is the fourth national institution created by the Constitution, alongside the Congress, the presidency, and the Court. The College consists of 538 electors, with each state having the same number of electors as it does members of Congress.
The Electoral College was designed as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and the election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens. The term "electoral college" does not appear in the Constitution, but Article II and the 12th Amendment refer to "electors". The process is mandated by Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, which outlines how the President shall be chosen.
The Founding Fathers intended for the Electoral College to be a check on the uninformed mass electorate. Alexander Hamilton believed that the College would ensure that the election was not tainted by corruption in any state. The College was also meant to channel the energies of major political figures and ensure that the President had a proven record of service.
The Electoral College has been criticised as "archaic" and "ambiguous", and there have been numerous proposals to reform or eliminate it. However, it would require a constitutional amendment to change the process.
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The Electoral College is the fourth national institution created by the Constitution
The process of using electors comes from the Constitution. The term "electoral college" does not appear in the Constitution, but the Constitution does refer to "electors". The Electoral College process consists of the selection of the electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress. The Founding Fathers crafted this compromise between those who argued for the election of the President by a vote of Congress and the election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.
The Electoral College was also meant to channel the energies of the major political figures who had aspirations of achieving the highest office. The choice of the President was to reflect the "sense of the people" at a particular time, independent of the influence of "foreign powers". The choice would be made with a full and fair expression of the public will while maintaining as little opportunity as possible for tumult and disorder. Individual electors would be elected by citizens on a district-by-district basis.
The Electoral College has been the subject of much debate and criticism since its inception. It has been described as "archaic" and "ambiguous", and many proposals have been introduced to reform or eliminate it. However, it is constitutionally mandated, and abolishing it would require a constitutional amendment.
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The Electoral College was established as a compromise
The Electoral College is a process that was established by the Founding Fathers in the US Constitution as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and the election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens. The term "electoral college" does not appear in the Constitution, but the process is part of its original design. Article II of the Constitution and the 12th Amendment refer to "electors" but not to the "electoral college".
The Electoral College was established to govern the entirety of the process of selecting the president and vice president, from the initial function of identifying and winnowing the candidates to the final stage of electing these officers. The Founding Fathers were especially concerned about the dangers involved in the selection of the president, and they counted on the electors to block the election of a demagogue. No threat was graver than this to the survival of the constitutional system. The Electoral College system was also meant to channel the energies of the major political figures who had aspirations of achieving the highest office.
The process of using electors comes from the Constitution and was intended to be a mixture of state-based and population-based government. Congress would have two houses: the state-based Senate and the population-based House of Representatives. Meanwhile, the president would be elected by a mixture of the two modes. Alexander Hamilton argued that the election was to take place among all the states, so no corruption in any state could taint "the great body of the people" in their selection.
The Electoral College has been the subject of much debate and proposed changes since its inception. It has been criticised as "archaic" and "ambiguous", and public opinion polls have shown that majorities of Americans have favoured abolishing it at various points in time. However, the Electoral College remains in place and continues to be a part of the US Constitution.
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The Electoral College has been criticised as archaic and ambiguous
The Electoral College has faced criticism for its role in the US presidential election process. The term "electoral college" does not appear in the US Constitution, despite the College being established by the Founding Fathers as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and a popular vote of qualified citizens. The College has been criticised as archaic and ambiguous, with more proposals for Constitutional amendments to change it than any other subject.
The American Bar Association has described the Electoral College as "archaic" and "ambiguous", and polling in 1987 showed that 69% of lawyers favoured abolishing it. Public opinion polls have also shown a majority in favour of abolishing it, with 58% in 1967, 81% in 1968, and 75% in 1981. The College has been criticised for not being representative of the popular will of the nation, with winner-take-all systems and representation that is not proportional to population. This goes against the principle of "one person, one vote", as citizens in states with smaller populations have more voting power than those in larger states.
The Electoral College has also been criticised for its racist origins, applying the three-fifths clause which gave a long-term electoral advantage to slave states in the South. This has diluted the political power of voters of colour and incentivised presidential campaigns to focus on a small number of "swing states". The College was also designed to block the election of a demagogue, which has led to criticism that it blocks the ""uninformed mass electorate".
The ongoing debate about the Electoral College has led to many proposals to alter the Presidential election process, such as direct nationwide elections by eligible voters, or the National Popular Vote Plan, which would see states appoint their Electors for the winner of the national popular vote.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, the Electoral College is part of the US Constitution. The Founding Fathers established it as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and the election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.
The Electoral College process consists of the selection of electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress. The Electoral College is a process, not a place.
Electors are chosen by the citizens of each state. Each candidate running for President has their own group of electors, generally chosen by the candidate's political party in that state. Electors are required to vote for the candidate they were selected to represent, and some states enforce this with penalties.
The Electoral College can be abolished with a Constitutional amendment. Over the past 200 years, there have been more than 700 proposals to reform or eliminate the Electoral College. An amendment to abolish the system was approved by the House in 1969 but did not pass the Senate.
