Omar Bennett
The Electoral College is a process established by the Founding Fathers in the US Constitution as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and election by popular vote. The College consists of 538 electors, with each state appointing electors equal in number to its Congressional delegation. The appointment and mode of appointment of electors are exclusive to the states, as per the Supreme Court case McPherson v. Blacker (1892). The process includes the selection of electors, their meeting to vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of electoral votes by Congress. The candidate with the majority of electoral votes becomes President.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Nature | The Electoral College is a process, not a place |
| Established by | The Founding Fathers |
| Purpose | To serve as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens |
| Composition | 538 electors from the states and the District of Columbia |
| Manner of appointment | Each State shall appoint electors in the manner directed by its legislature |
| Voting | Electors meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state as themselves |
| Counting | The President of the Senate opens all the certificates, and the votes are then counted in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives |
| Quorum | A quorum consists of members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states is necessary for a choice |
| Majority | A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President |
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What You'll Learn
The Founding Fathers established the Electoral College
The Electoral College is a process, not a place. It is a complex and non-uniform state-based process, designed to filter public opinion through a "deliberative" intermediate institution. The College consists of 538 electors, and a majority of 270 electoral votes are required to elect the President. Each state has the same number of electors as it does Members in its Congressional delegation: one for each Member in the House of Representatives plus two Senators.
The process of the Electoral College involves 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 voters in each state choose electors to serve in the Electoral College. The State Executive of each state then signs the Certificate of Ascertainment to appoint the electors chosen in the general election. The electors in each state then meet to select the President and Vice President of the United States. Finally, Congress meets in a joint session to count the electoral votes.
The U.S. Supreme Court has characterised the authority of the states over the manner of awarding their Electors as "exclusive" and "plenary". The Constitution does not provide that the appointment of electors shall be by popular vote, and the appointment and mode of appointment of electors belong exclusively to the states under the Constitution of the United States.
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The appointment and mode of appointment of electors
Each state legislature has the authority to determine the manner of appointing electors, and there is no uniform national system for doing so. The number of electors each state appoints is equal to the total number of Senators and Representatives to which the state is entitled in Congress. This means that each state has the same number of electors as its total Congressional delegation: one for each Representative plus two Senators. For example, California, with 53 Representatives and two Senators, has 55 electors.
The District of Columbia is an exception, as it is not a state but is treated like one for the purposes of the Electoral College under the 23rd Amendment. It is allocated three electors.
The voters in each state choose electors to serve in the Electoral College on Election Day. The state executive then signs the Certificate of Ascertainment to appoint the electors chosen in the general election. This certificate lists the names of the individuals on each candidate's slate, the number of votes each received, and the appointed electors for the state.
Most states have a "winner-take-all" system, where all electors are awarded to the presidential candidate who wins the state's popular vote. However, Maine and Nebraska have a variation of proportional representation.
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The process of selecting the President and Vice President
The Electoral College consists of 538 electors, with each state having the same number of electors as its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two Senators. The District of Columbia is allocated three electors and is treated like a state for Electoral College purposes under the 23rd Amendment.
The process begins with the selection of electors. On Election Day, voters in each state choose electors to serve in the Electoral College. After the general election, the state's executive prepares a Certificate of Ascertainment, listing the names of individuals on the slates for each candidate, the number of votes each received, and the appointed electors for the state.
The electors then meet in their respective states to vote for the President and Vice President. They vote by ballot for two persons, with at least one being from a different state than themselves. The electors create a list of the persons voted for and the number of votes received, which they sign, certify, and transmit to the President of the Senate.
The President of the Senate opens all the certificates in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, and the votes are counted. The person with the majority of votes becomes the President, and the person with the second-highest number of votes becomes the Vice President. However, if there is a tie for President or Vice President, the decision is made by the House of Representatives or the Senate, respectively.
The Electoral College system has been a source of political controversy and has undergone constitutional and legislative revisions. While most states follow a "winner-take-all" system, Maine and Nebraska have variations of "proportional representation." The process of selecting the President and Vice President through the Electoral College is a complex and non-uniform state-based process.
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The counting of electoral votes by Congress
The Electoral College is a process established by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution. It acts 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 process consists of three steps: the selection of electors, the meeting of electors where they 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. If no candidate receives a majority, the House of Representatives chooses the President from the five candidates with the most electoral votes. The Vice President is then chosen by the person with the second-highest number of votes, unless there is a tie, in which case the Senate chooses the Vice President by ballot.
The process of counting electoral votes by Congress is outlined in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 of the Constitution, which was superseded by the Twelfth Amendment ratified in 1804. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the authority of states over the appointment of electors, as seen in McPherson v. Blacker (1892) and Bush v. Gore (2000).
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The winner-take-all system
The Electoral College, as established by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution, is a process of electing the President through a selection of electors. This process involves electors from each state meeting to vote for the President and Vice President, with their votes then counted by Congress. While the Constitution grants states exclusive authority over the appointment of electors, it does not specify a method for their selection. This has resulted in variations in elector appointment across states, with some states using a district system or popular vote, and others allowing state legislatures to directly appoint electors.
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Frequently asked questions
The Electoral College is a process, not a place. It was established by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.
The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. Each state has the same number of electors as it does Members in its Congressional delegation: one for each Member in the House of Representatives plus two Senators. The District of Columbia is allocated 3 electors and is treated like a state for Electoral College purposes. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President.
The electors are chosen by the voters in each state. Most states have a "`winner-take-all`" system that awards all electors to the presidential candidate who wins the state's popular vote. However, the appointment and mode of appointment of electors are decided by the state legislatures and there is no uniform national system.
The electors meet in their respective states and vote for the President and Vice President. The votes are then sent to the President of the Senate, who opens the votes in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives. The votes are counted and the candidate with the majority of votes becomes President.
