Jonah Patel
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 a popular vote of qualified citizens. The College consists of 538 electors, with each state having the same number of electors as it does Congressional members. The candidate who wins the most electoral college votes across the US becomes president. While the Constitution does not require electors to vote for the candidate chosen by their state's popular vote, some states do. The Electoral College has faced criticism for being archaic and ambiguous and has been the subject of numerous proposals for reform or elimination.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| What is it? | A process, not a place, for electing the president and vice president of the United States. |
| Who is involved? | 538 electors from the states and the District of Columbia. |
| Who are the electors? | Chosen by voters in each state. |
| How are they chosen? | Each state has its own method, which can include a "winner-take-all" system or Maine and Nebraska's "proportional representation". |
| When do they vote? | Mid-December after the election in November. |
| What happens if they don't vote for their state's popular vote? | Electors may be fined, disqualified, replaced, or prosecuted by their state. |
| What is the outcome? | The candidate who wins the majority of electoral votes (270 or more) becomes president, and their running mate becomes vice-president. |
| Can it be changed? | Yes, but it would require a Constitutional amendment. |
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What You'll Learn
- The Electoral College is a process, not a place
- The Founding Fathers established the Electoral College in 1787
- The Electoral College decides who becomes President and Vice President
- The popular vote does not decide the President
- Over 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College
The Electoral College is a process, not a place
The Electoral College process consists of the selection of electors, the meeting of electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress. Each state gets as many electors as it has members of Congress (House and Senate). There are currently 538 electors in total, and a candidate needs to gain a majority of 270 or more votes to win the presidency. Electors are chosen by voters in each state, and they meet in their states in mid-December to cast their votes.
The Electoral College has been criticised for consigning most states to "spectator" status in presidential elections, reducing voter turnout, and dramatically polarising the nation's politics. There have been many proposals to reform or eliminate the Electoral College, and it would take a constitutional amendment to change the process. However, supporters of the Electoral College argue that it preserves an important dimension of state-based federalism in presidential elections and guarantees that Presidents will have nationwide support.
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The Founding Fathers established the Electoral College in 1787
The process of using electors comes from the Constitution. Each state gets as many electors as it has members of Congress (House and Senate). There are currently 538 electors in total, with Washington, D.C. having three electors. Electors are chosen by voters in each state, and they meet in their states to vote for the President and Vice President. The candidate who wins the most electoral college votes becomes president.
The Electoral College has been criticised as "archaic" and "ambiguous", and there have been many proposals to reform or eliminate it. However, supporters of the Electoral College argue that it preserves an important dimension of state-based federalism in presidential elections and guarantees that Presidents will have nationwide support.
The Electoral College has produced recurring political controversy, and there have been several significant constitutional, legislative, and political revisions to the process over the years. For example, the 12th Amendment, the expansion of voting rights, and the use of the popular vote to determine electors have all substantially changed the process.
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The Electoral College decides who becomes President and Vice President
The Electoral College is a process that decides who becomes the President and Vice President of the United States. It 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 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 Electoral College consists of 538 electors, with each state having the same number of electors as it has members of Congress (House and Senate). The District of Columbia is allocated three electors and is treated like a state for Electoral College purposes under the 23rd Amendment. In most states, electors are chosen based on the winner of the statewide popular vote, but some states have variations of proportional representation. Electors meet in their states in mid-December to cast their votes for President and Vice President.
The candidate who wins a majority of 270 or more electoral votes becomes President, and their running mate becomes Vice President. It is possible for a candidate to win the Electoral College and become President without winning the popular vote, as seen in the 2016 and 2000 elections. This has happened five times in total since the Electoral College was established. Critics argue that the Electoral College reduces voter turnout and polarizes the nation's politics, while supporters contend that it guarantees nationwide support for the President.
Since the Electoral College is part of the original design of the Constitution, a Constitutional amendment would be required to change this system. Over the years, there have been numerous proposals to reform or eliminate the Electoral College, but none have been passed by Congress.
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The popular vote does not decide the President
The United States Constitution established the Electoral College, which decides who will be elected president and vice president of the United States. The Founding Fathers created the Electoral College in the Constitution as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and election 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 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 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. Each state gets as many electors as it has members of Congress (House and Senate), and there are currently 538 electors in total. A candidate needs to gain a majority of 270 or more votes to win the presidency.
While the Constitution does not require electors to vote for the candidate chosen by their state's popular vote, some states do. Electors who vote against their state's popular vote may be fined, disqualified, replaced, or prosecuted by their state. It is possible for a candidate to win the Electoral College but lose the popular vote, as has happened five times in U.S. history (in 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016). In 2016, Donald Trump won the Electoral College but polled almost three million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton. In 2000, George W. Bush became president despite Al Gore winning the popular vote by more than half a million votes.
The Electoral College has faced criticism for consigning most states to "spectator" status in presidential elections, reducing voter turnout, and dramatically polarizing the nation's politics. Over 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College, and public opinion polls have shown a majority of Americans in favor of abolishing it at various points in history. However, the Electoral College remains in place, and it would take a Constitutional amendment to change the process.
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Over 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College
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 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 Electoral College is a process that includes electors from each state, who meet to select the President and Vice President of the United States. The number of electors in each state is equal to the number of members of Congress (House and Senate) in that state.
Over the past 200 years, more than 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College. This is because the Electoral College is constitutionally mandated, and changing it would require a constitutional amendment. The American Bar Association has criticised the Electoral College as "archaic" and "ambiguous", and polling showed that 69% of lawyers favoured abolishing it in 1987. Public opinion polls have also shown majorities of Americans favouring abolition, with 58% in 1967, 81% in 1968, and 75% in 1981.
One proposal to reform the Electoral College is the Lodge-Gossett Amendment, introduced in 1950, which would have allocated electoral votes proportionally to the popular vote. While the amendment passed in the Senate, it failed to pass in the House of Representatives. Another proposal is the National Popular Vote Plan, which began in Maryland in 2007 and has since won support from a dozen other states. This plan aims to address the problems of the Electoral College without going through the amendment process.
President Jimmy Carter also expressed support for abolishing the Electoral College in a letter to Congress in 1977. He wrote, "Such an amendment, which would abolish the Electoral College, will ensure that the candidate chosen by the voters actually becomes President. Under the Electoral College, it is always possible that the winner of the popular vote will not be elected." This has happened in several elections, including 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016.
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Frequently asked questions
The Electoral College is a process, not a place. It is a method of choosing the president and vice president of the United States.
The Electoral College consists of 538 electors, with each state having the same number of electors as it does members in its Congressional delegation. The electors meet in their states in mid-December to vote for the president and vice president. The candidate who wins a majority of 270 or more electoral votes becomes the president, and their running mate becomes the vice president.
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 of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.
