What is the Electoral College?
The founding fathers established the Electoral College as a compromise between election of the President by Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens. The U.S. Constitution states in Amendment XII, ratified by the states in 1804:
“The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed ….”
Image Source: cnn.com
The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors who cast votes to decide the President and Vice-President of the United States. The number 538 is the sum of the nation’s 435 Representatives, 100 Senators, and 3 electors given to the District of Columbia.
In all but two states, the candidate who wins a majority of popular votes also wins all of that state’s electoral votes (“winner take all” rule). The candidate who receives a majority of electoral votes (270 out of 538) then wins the Presidency.
2016 ELECTORAL MAP
Image Source: wikipedia.org
How Are Each State’s Electors Selected?
There is a two-part process to selecting each state’s Electors. First, the political parties in each state choose slates of potential Electors sometime before the general election. Electors are often chosen to recognize their service and dedication to that party. So by the end of the first stage, each Presidential candidate has his or her own unique slate of potential Electors.
Second, on Election Day, the voters in each state select their state’s Electors by casting their ballots for President. Most voters don’t know it, but when they cast votes for the Presidential candidate of their choice they are actually voting to select their state’s Electors.
In all states except in Nebraska and Maine, the winning Presidential candidate’s slate of potential Electors are then appointed as the state’s Electors.
For example, if Donald Trump won the popular vote in Alaska, his slate of potential Electors are appointed as Alaska’s Electors. Those Electors would then cast their votes for Trump as President.
In Nebraska and Maine, the state winner receives two Electors and the winner of each congressional district (who may be the same as the overall winner or a different candidate) receives one Elector. This system permits the Electors from Nebraska and Maine to be awarded to more than one candidate.
Are Electors Legally Required to Vote for their Party’s Candidate?
It depends. There is no Constitutional provision or Federal law that requires Electors to vote according to the results of the popular vote in their states.
However, 27 states require Electors to cast their votes according to the popular vote. About 29 states also provide that so-called “faithless Electors” may be subject to fines or may be disqualified for casting an invalid vote and be replaced by a substitute elector. Throughout history, more than 99 percent of Electors have voted as pledged.
And yet, there have been 157 faithless electors in American history. 71 of these votes were changed because the original candidate died before the day on which the Electoral College cast its votes.
When Does the Electoral College Actually Vote?
Although the nation goes to the voting booths on November 8, each state’s electors meet on the Monday following the second Wednesday of December to cast their votes, which is December 19, 2016, this year. Those votes are then sent to the President of the Senate who reads them before both houses of Congress on January 6th. The President-Elect takes the oath of office and is sworn in as President of the United States on January 20th in the year following the Presidential election.
Can A Candidate Win the Popular Vote But Not the Required 270 Electoral College Votes to Become President?
Yes! This happened to George W. Bush in 2000, who lost the popular vote to Al Gore by .51% but won the electoral college 271 to 266.
As explained above, the President is not chosen by a nation-wide popular vote but is determined by the electoral college. In all elections since the nation’s founding, except for three, the popular vote aligned with the electoral votes.
The three elections where the popular vote differed from the electoral votes were: the Hayes/Tilden election of 1876, the Harrison/Cleveland election of 1888, and Bush/Gore in 2000.
What If Neither Candidate Wins the Required Majority of 270 Electoral Votes?
The Constitution provides an answer for this scenario, as well. If no candidate receives a majority of Electoral votes, the House of Representatives elects the President from the 3 Presidential candidates who received the most Electoral votes. Each state delegation has one vote. If the House of Representatives fails to elect a President by Inauguration Day, the Vice-President Elect serves as acting President until the deadlock is resolved in the House.
Believe it or not, this has actually happened twice in American history!
In 1801 Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, both Democrat-Republicans, received the same number of electoral votes, despite the fact that Burr was running as a vice presidential candidate, not for the presidency. Following 36 successive votes in the House, Jefferson was finally elected president.
In 1824 John Quincy Adams was elected president despite not winning either the popular vote or the electoral vote. Andrew Jackson actually received 38,000 more popular votes than Adams, and 15 more electoral votes than Adams. However, Jackson did not receive the majority 131 votes needed in the Electoral College to be declared president. In fact, neither candidate did. The decision went to the House of Representatives, which voted Adams into the White House.
Fun! The world’s most terrifying reality TV show could, under this scenario, continue indefinitely, while either Tim Kaine or Mike Pence serves as acting President.
What do you think? Should the Electoral College system be abolished so that the popular vote determines who becomes President? Or is the popular vote too dangerous?
I believe the popular vote would be best in my opinion.
I agree. I think that the electoral college should be used only during a tie-breaker situation.
Our government is supposed to be of, by & for the people. If the popular vote of the people is superseded by the electoral college, how does the vote of the people count?
Most of my life, I thought that the USA was a democracy, but I now realize that since it is actually a constitutional republic, it doesn’t feel much like a democracy, therefore, our government is flawed.
No wonder folks in places like Norway & Sweden are happiest because their governments are Full Democracies–the will of the people-not a select few who can be subject to manipulation in the electoral college!
Wow, it’s sad to learn someone doesn’t understand the government of the nation that they live in. Oh snap, I have a great idea, why don’t you move to Norway or Sweden, so you can be happy too.
It’s Not Read become a skeptic people who are a skeptic Question things, they Analyze things if your READ the info like I did…YOUR VOTE DO NOT NOT MATTER…. The process Goes By the Electoral Collage Vote if it’s A Tie the House of Representatives….then Select the president. .
i agree this is why i reguse to vote. because my vote does not matter. if a person can win the popular vote but looses the electoral vote. tell me did any of the votes the american people cast matter? the answer is a big NO! its all fixrd and decided way before we vote. doesanykne remember how angry bush got when he was announced the loser. ill never firget how he acted. then boom out of nowhere ballots were gound and the electoral vote changed in his favor. our voice does not matter. the rlectowral college is a slap in the face.
Absolutely, we need to do away with the electoral college vote. Voting is suppose to be “your choice.” It’s not your choice under this system.
The electoral college would work in its original form. Meaning that if you split the electoral votes like Maine does it would work s it was meant to.
How was it meant to work. Well since democracy is the tyrrany of the majority over the minority it was meant to give a voice to rural and urban folks. Also to make sure that states with lower population could not be dominated by those states that had more. Sure rural states have less of a voice as it should be. But in popular vote they have non. Just look at California. All of the state voted for trump. It was just the urban centers that sided with Hillary. If Rhodes votes were split of you would have electoral go to both parties. Rather than winner take all.
Thank you for explaining this. I have always been against that electoral vote but I think because it has always been used wrong in my voting life time. How can we make it work the way it was meant to work?
As long as they have senators on the electoral college our votes will not count. They are gonna vote for who ever their campaign contributors tell them to.
Get rid of it and only let senators and governors have a 8 year term in office.
We need new fresh blood in office.
Senators cannot be picked as electors!
Kieth, Just a suggestion, don’t text dumb shit. In fact don’t text at all. Someone that knows you might read it, ♂️
Kieth, Just a suggestion, don’t text dumb shit. In fact don’t text at all. Someone that knows you might read it, ♂️
Bless it
What is the purpose of voting if the electoral college chooses the president anyway. What is the purpose of the electoral college if the popular vote can determines who is president? Why is there a middle man? If the electoral college can still decide who they want to be president, I assume they could have made their decision before we even voted. Could it be possible that they did not interject against the popular vote other times because the people voted for the individual they originally planned on?
Should b popular vote only. I don’t care what the electoral system was meant to do. Doesn’t matter how big a state is. Vote for who u want and candidate with most votes wins, simple. This country always make things complicated in all aspects. Nothing is simple as it should be. The wrong thinkers have this whole country a mess!
Two times the popular vote didn’t work, and they just said that they hold up the original law. I’m sorry but Trump WON on this outdated platform, even as he bashes mail in voters, why in the world are we voting? I’m not confident that our system will work, seeing that it’s happened at least twice in my lifetime! This is crazy, how are to feel like e even matter, when the vote is taken away from us?
I’m feeling like it’s useless to try given this new information, new to me. Thankfully I didn’t know that this when I was younger I would have never tried.
Very saddened by the state of our country. Period.
If the president is meant represent the people then the people should elect the president of their choice by popular vote. The framers were wrong for creating the electoral college and it’s still wrong today. Especially in the 2020 race. Winner takes all. This will be my first time voting and I’m 66 yrs. old. Why now? Because I just want it recorded how much I despise what Trump has done to our country even though my vote won’t matter at all.
I’m 52 and have only voted once because the Electoral College makes my vote meaningless… both as a conservative in California and a conservative in Idaho. The U.S. would have a significantly higher voter turnout if the Popular vote was in place.
I believe they should do away with the electoral college vote due to interference with other countries interfering with our elections. We are in a different situation now due to techology.
I think you should do away with the electoral college vote and let the American people, being the popular vote, determine the president of the United States!!!
Get rid of the electoral college. It’s archaic. Popular vote is the only fair way.
Why can’t electoral college be dropped? Other unfair legislations such as “Jim Crow Laws” were dropped from the constitution – thus the amendment to the constitution. Why encourage citizens to vote if a candidate wins by a significant margin (such as Hillary won by 3 million votes), and then negate the will of the people by re-voting through electoral college? Who matters more: the 3 million people (popular vote) for Hillary Clinton; or 307 electors (people) for Donald Trump? If 2020’s election results will occur similarly to 2016’s, I will never vote again. Why vote if majority’s popular vote doesn’t count? It is quite sickening!
Why can’t electoral college be dropped? Other unfair legislations such as “Jim Crow Laws” were dropped from the constitution – thus the amendment to the constitution. Why encourage citizens to vote if a candidate wins by a significant margin (such as Hillary won by 3 million votes), and then negate the will of the people by re-voting through electoral college? Who matters more: the 3 million people (popular vote) for Hillary Clinton; or 307 electors (people) for Donald Trump? If 2020’s election results will occur similarly to 2016’s, I will never vote again. Why vote if majority’s popular vote doesn’t count? It is quite sickening!
If one candidate wins the popular vote, as Hillary Clinton did in 2016, but the other candidate wins the election, then every vote did not count.
I think the electoral college should be abolished .Popular vote is the winner.
This electoral college crap needs to go. The popular vote is the way to go.
Absolutely the Electoral College system should be abolished and the popular vote be the one that determines who will be president. Otherwise there will be less and less voter turnout especially with the younger generation who many already don’t believe it matters if they vote or not.
Absolutely the Electoral College system should be abolished and the popular vote be the one that determines who will be president. Otherwise there will be less and less voter turnout especially with the younger generation who many already don’t believe it matters if they vote or not.
It should be by popular vote, otherwise the president is not elected by the will of the people and discourages citizens to vote. It is a very unfair system. Hillary had 4 million more popular votes than Trump, so basically the electoral college subjected the American people to the abomination that is Trump. It is very misleading, so what is the point of debating, Trump’s ridiculous rallies, political commercials etc if the popular vote doesn’t even count? We live in a shitty country based on lies
Do not believe that the electoral college process is not corrupt in today’s reality.
Politicians, senators, congressmen and women are elected by large deep pocket corporations. Their votes are tallied, paid for by the biggest donations to his or her private or campaign funds.
Look through history how so many laws, constitutional rights have been altered and changed to favor big money politics.
My opinion only, do not believe in government anymore, to corrupt.
I definitely believe that the electoral college needs to go it’s outdated and it goes against the idea that we are all in this together as Americans. And It would be just easier if the popular vote one.
I think we still abolish the electoral vote since our vote doesn’t count as we saw in 2016 elections where Clinton won by 3 million votes over trump.
How many votes dose it take to make one electoral vote?
Yes, the electoral voting system needs to change!! As stated in your article, there is no mandate that the electoral must vote with popular vote in every state.
Currently there is so much corruption in our government, and interference from other countries, we need a more trusted system. Additionally, if you don’t live in a “swing” state, candidates don’t even bother trying to get your vote.
Meanwhile, all voters need to pay attention to who they are voting for locally, in the state, including judges, as local cases feed to the Supreme court.
Yup! I agree.
Your votes don’t count one iota!!!! The Bilderbergs family and Rothschilds family tells the electoral college who to pick. This is also decided at the Bohemian grove in the California redwoods! Humans are ignorant!
Bilderbergs / Rosthschild / Smithsonian etc… Are not “family’s” per say! They’re were, so called “high society” elitists groups. Which are no longer of existence in modern history, if ever!
Those are conspiratorial theories, which no real living individual has any real first hand knowledge or evidence of their existence. It’s all hear say! Make believe! Imaginary theories.
Nothing of this has any to do with our “out dated” electoral voting system.
I think everyone’s vote should be equal. Why should one state’s vote (or the vote of the electoral college), count more than any other American citizen’s? The electoral college not only makes the voting process unfair, but open the process up to be abused by one candidate, (Donald Trump), for example, who only cares about the vote of those 270, and could care less about the millions others in the rest of the country….
Furthermore, it adds to the problem which arises when they do their “redistricting”. It gives corruption a new, or better, in many instances the opportunity to flourish!
I believe the electoral College should be abolished simply because the reason it was originally established, is no longer valid.
What is the point of voting if the president is chosen by electoral college? Seems like the people vote is useless.
I honestly don’t understand the importance of the electoral colleges. To me, it looks like they are doing more harm than good, specially with this “winner takes all” system. Can you explain it to me, in layman’s terms, why not elect the president directly? And how exactly does the electoral colleges give a voice to the rural population. Also how is it that those two states don’t have the winner takes all rule? Which one do you think is better?
The popular vote should be the only vote that matters! By using the popular vote to determine presidency you are getting an accurate measure of the general public’s approval. This would include fair distribution of input across all socioeconomic classes. The electoral system is broken and does not always reflect public Iinput. Electoral votes should only count if there is a dead heat in public votes.
ABOLISH THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE!!! IT MAKES OUR COUNTRY MORE OF AN OLIGARCHY THEN A DEMOCRACY !!!
We should stick to the electoral college because most people don’t even understand politics and don’t even try. They just vote for the person the like the best
I’ve researched and the electoral college was enacted for as a compromise to the republic my fed founding fathers to ratify the Constitution. The Republic minded ppl think the general population is too dumb to vote for president. I’ve also research that. That the first political party was in a red 100yrs after we declared our independence and that was to give our form of government a title for the won’t, democracy. Soo 100yrs not bad for a country of alleged dumbasses. It took republicans another 30yrs to create their party. So I’m do the math. Political parties are a form of racism it divides ppl. I’m independent just like my ancestors were when they claimed this land. Carry on folks.
I’ve researched and the electoral college was enacted as a compromise to the various republic minded founding fathers to ratify the Constitution. The Republic minded people think the general population is too dumb to vote for president. I’ve also researched. That the first political party was inacted 100yrs after we declared our independence and that was to give our form of government a title for the world of being a democracy. Sooo 100yrs not bad for a country of alleged dumbasses. It took republicans another 30yrs to create their party. So do the math. Political parties are a form of racism it divides people. I’m independent just like my ancestors were when they claimed this land. I realize there are inequities of how this land was claimed but that’s another topic. Carry on folks.
This is a spelled checked edition since suddenly spellcheck is dumb. It used to work year’s ago but now you have to buy it. And have you noticed computers of all things don’t come with spell checker. If people raised hell about that kind of big business idiosyncrasies that would show the demons of the greedy people thusly eliminating the need for political parties. I’ve researched and the electoral college was enacted as a compromise to the various republic minded founding fathers to ratify the Constitution. The Republic minded people think the general population is too dumb to vote for president. I’ve also researched. That the first political party was inacted 100yrs after we declared our independence and that was to give our form of government a title for the world of being a democracy. Sooo 100yrs not bad for a country of alleged dumbasses. It took republicans another 30yrs to create their party. So do the math. Political parties are a form of racism it divides people. I’m independent just like my ancestors were when they claimed this land. I realize there are inequities of how this land was claimed but that’s another topic. Carry on folks.
I’ve researched and the electoral college was enacted as a compromise to the various republic minded founding fathers to ratify the Constitution. The Republic minded people think the general population is too dumb to vote for president. I’ve also researched. That the first political party was inacted 100yrs after we declared our independence and that was to give our form of government a title for the world of being a democracy. Sooo 100yrs not bad for a country of alleged dumbasses. It took republicans another 30yrs to create their party. So do the math. Political parties are a form of racism it divides people. I’m independent just like my ancestors were when they claimed this land. I realize there are inequities of how this land was claimed but that’s another topic. Carry on folks.
If it is all decided by the electoral college what is the point of wasting my time to vote. It sounds like my vote really does not meen crap at all and I really see no point in voting anymore. It is supposed to be we the people afterall am I mistaken? It is instead we the electoral college.
It seems possible that electors could be “bought” There are flaws in both systems but I feel the electoral college is antiquated. The popular vote should rule
Standing in line for 3 hours to vote is pointless and my vote doesnt mean shit and will not vote anymore after this election. Your not going by popular vote and do the electoral votes determine presidency it’s not the privilege to vote when your vote doesnt mean shit
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN,
The electoral college and the U.S. Constitution are antiquated relics of an era in U.S. history that enabled and committed genocide against the the Native American population, enslaved the black man, women and child to harvest the biggest cash crop of the day, which was cotton. Using the doctrines of Manifest Destiny and Divine Providence, the founders of the Constitution were opportunists and exploiters of the human condition. The U.S.A. is without question the most corrupt nation/government in the world. Its’ DNA is war. It is a war nation with a war economy, whereby the U.S. political, military, industrial complex has presently established some 1,000 military bases and facilities located in over 140 nations worldwide. Every citizen voter, taxpayer and 501c3 entity within the U.S. and its’ territories are this war machine that has murdered millions of innocent men, women and children both domestically and internationally since 1787 . Today, in 21st century America, the propaganda and cultural conditioning that each and every citizen is exposed to from birth to death prevents them from seeing what they are truly a part of vis-a-vis the world at large. The U.S.A. is not anything close to a Democracy. It’s a hybrid between being an Oligarchy and a Plutocracy. Americans do not live in freedom. They only chase the illusion of freedom that the government has created for them to believe and worship at their own expense. A true crime against all humanity.
Thank you,
Kenneth Russell Law
In my opinion, I think the electoral college should be abolished. Every one should have their vote counted as to who becomes president, not the electric college. It seems unfair that my vote basically doesn’t count in the election. How can a candidate who won the popular vote by 4 million people may not be our next president. So the popular votes don’t even count.
How can this be fair !!! I think EVERY vote should count by the people.
If the Electors do not vote by who the majority of the people vote, yes the Electoral College SHALL be eliminated, permanently, from the process. Votes by the people SHALL take priority, period!!!!!
If a state is allowed to pass a law that the electoral votes must go to the winner of the popular vote, then what is the point of having them in the first place?
Well I guess the votes are in from the electoral college. It sounds like they are in agreement that Joe Biden won. I think President Trump still has something to say about that though. He seems to be convinced that he won. What do you think about all that?
There have actually been 4 elections where the electoral vote and the popular vote differed, the most recent was between Trump and Hillary in 2016. Hillary had won the popular vote but Trump won the electoral vote.
I think in my opinion we need to abolish electoral college votes it was we the people not we the electoral college votes for presidency all this proves is corruption in all ways from our country leaders in high government and we the people really don’t matter
I feel that the electoral votes should be abolish and that the president elect should be the choice of the people. Like why even bother to vote if our voices aren’t being heard. An if the electoral votes is necessary then the candidate that has the most popular votes should win those electoral votes period.
The screwed up part about the entire democracy is that we have no authority or right to even propose bills or amendments to the constitution. This is something that rests in the power of politicians which is why all of our rights in truth are pretty much based on the personal bias of the sitting senators and representatives, and in these current times it’s especially screwed up because they’re so stuck on their personal parties vendetta against the opposing parties that they’re not even doing anything significant to help the American people
This was supposed to be a spelled checked edition since suddenly spellcheck is dumb. It used to work year’s ago but now you have to buy it. The glamorous dumbass technology said it was a duplicate post so add this to my previous post. And have you noticed computers of all things don’t come with spell checker. If people raised hell about that kind of big business idiosyncrasies that would show the demons of the greedy people thusly eliminating the need for political parties. I’m independent just like my ancestors were when they claimed this land. I realize there are inequities of how this land was claimed but that’s another topic. Carry on folks.
I believe the electoral college needs to go away… What’s more? Political party affiliation needs to be abolished as well!!!
Electoral vote should most definitely be second to popular vote only to serve as a tie breaker if needed. The main reason for this is because those electors are selected by politicians. Which means they can be bought or retrospectively they have bought that electoral seat so that they can manipulate the system. The People don’t decide who will be on the elector panel so that reason in itself demonstrates the level of power WE THE PEOPLE truly do not hold.
I have come to believe that the number of votes given is meaningless when you consider who we are voting for. it is simply a matter of what one would prefer in the white house; a rattlesnake or a cobra. it is a known fact that politicians will lie, and will tell you anything just to get your vote, and afterward it is busiiness as usual where the rich get richer and the poor (you know how the rest of it goes). You hardly hear anything from them until election time, they insult eachother during debates, but get together to play golf on the weekends. It’s strange that we’re the richest country in the world but we’re always in debt. I have zero trust in any politician. Just like the IRS; its all about the money.