Who determines who goes to the Electoral College?
Who selects the electors? Choosing each State's electors is a two-part process. First, the political parties in each State choose slates of potential electors sometime before the general election. Second, during the general election, the voters in each State select their State's electors by casting their ballots.
Who chooses voters for the Electoral College?
What the Constitution says. State political parties each choose a slate of electors ahead of the general election. Voters then select which electors will represent them in the Electoral College by ...
Who elects members of the Electoral College?
The political parties in each of the states appoint the electors to the Electoral College. Generally the electors are chosen based on long time active participation in the party organization and loyalty to its presidential and vice presidential candidates. How much does the government spend, and where does the money go? No bias. Just facts.
What is the Electoral College and why is it controversial?
The Electoral College was the result of a compromise, just like Congress and the Bill of Rights. At the Constitutional Convention, the primary concern of delegates opposed to direct election was that big states would dominate presidential politics. By using a two-step election process, the Electoral College prevents one region, or a handful of ...
What happens when you go to the polls?
When voters go to the polls in a Presidential election, they actually vote for the slate of electors who have vowed to cast their ballots for that ticket in the Electoral College.
How to object to a vote in Congress?
15 has set the method for objections by Members of Congress to electoral votes. During the Joint Session, lawmakers may object to individual electoral votes or to state returns as a whole. An objection must be declared in writing and signed by at least one Representative and one Senator. In the case of an objection, the Joint Session recesses and each chamber considers the objection separately for no more than two hours; each Member may speak for five minutes or less. After each house votes on whether to accept the objection, the Joint Session reconvenes and both chambers disclose their decisions. If both chambers agree to the objection, the electoral votes in question are not counted. If either chamber opposes the objection, the votes are counted.
What is the electoral college?
Constitution, the Electoral College is the formal body which elects the President and Vice President of the United States. Each state has as many "electors" in the Electoral College as it has Representatives and Senators in the United States Congress, and the District of Columbia has three electors. When voters go to the polls in a Presidential election, they actually vote for the slate of electors who have vowed to cast their ballots for that ticket in the Electoral College.
What happens after each house votes on whether to accept the objection?
After each house votes on whether to accept the objection, the Joint Session reconvenes and both chambers disclose their decisions. If both chambers agree to the objection, the electoral votes in question are not counted. If either chamber opposes the objection, the votes are counted.
What is faithless elector?
During the nineteenth century, “faithless electors”—those who broke their pledge and voted for someone else —were rare, but not uncommon, particularly when it came to Vice Presidents. In the modern era, faithless electors are rarer still, and have never determined the outcome of a presidential election.
How many electors does the District of Columbia have?
The District of Columbia has had three electors since the Twenty-third Amendment was ratified in 1961. There have been other attempts to change the system, particularly after cases in which a candidate wins the popular vote, but loses in the Electoral College.
How many presidential elections have been held in the House?
Only two Presidential elections (1800 and 1824) have been decided in the House.
Who presides over the count of electoral votes?
Members of the House and Senate meet in the House Chamber to conduct the official count of electoral votes. The Vice President, as President of the Senate, presides over the count and announces the results of the vote.
When do the electors meet?
The meeting of the electors takes place on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December after the general election. The electors meet in their respective States, where they cast their votes for President and Vice President on separate ballots. Your State’s electors’ votes are recorded on a Certificate of Vote, which is prepared at the meeting by the electors. Your State’s Certificate of Vote is sent to Congress, where the votes are counted, and NARA, as part of the official records of the Presidential election.
How many electors are there in the US?
The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. Your 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.
How many electoral votes are allocated in the District of Columbia?
Read more about the allocation of electoral votes. The District of Columbia is allocated 3 electors and treated like a State for purposes of the Electoral College under the 23rd Amendment of the Constitution. For this reason, in the following discussion, the word “State” also refers to the District of Columbia and “Governor” to the Mayor ...
Where is the Certificate of Vote sent?
Your State’s Certificate of Vote is sent to Congress, where the votes are counted, and NARA, as part of the official records of the Presidential election. Each State’s electoral votes are counted in a joint session of Congress on the 6th of January in the year following the meeting of the electors. Members of the House and Senate meet in ...
Which states have a winner take all system?
Most States have a “winner-take-all” system that awards all electors to the Presidential candidate who wins the State's popular vote. However, Maine and Nebraska each have a variation of “proportional representation.” Read more about the allocation of electors among the States.
When is the election held?
The general election is held every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. When you vote for a Presidential candidate you are actually voting for your candidate's preferred electors. Learn more about voting for the electors.
Who is responsible for electing the electors?
State legislatures are responsible for choosing electors, but how they do this varies from state to state. Until the mid-1800s, it was common for many state legislatures to simply appoint electors, while other states let their citizens decide on electors. Today, the most common method of choosing electors is by state party convention.
How are electors chosen?
In a smaller number of states, electors are chosen by a vote of the state party’s central committee. Either way, political parties usually choose people whom ...
What Happens on Election Day?
On Election Day, when Americans vote for the presidential and vice presidential candidates of a political party, they are actually voting for the slate of electors who have pledged to cast their votes for that party. Electors’ names may or may not appear on the ballot beneath the names of the candidates, depending on the election rules and the format of the ballots in each state.
How many states have laws that bind voters?
At the time of the Court’s decision, 32 states had passed laws that bind electors, while 18 states had laws on the books giving electors the freedom to vote independently—ensuring that in more ways than one, the Electoral College could continue to provide drama for the foreseeable future.
What was the result of the electoral college?
The result of this struggle was the Electoral College, the system by which the American people vote not for president and vice president, but for a smaller group of people, known as electors. These electors then cast their votes directly for president and vice president, at a meeting held several weeks after the general election.
How many votes do you need to win the White House?
senator and representative and three electors representing the District of Columbia, and presidential candidates need a majority of 270 votes to win the White House. Most of the time— but not always —the winner of the Electoral College is also the winner of the popular vote.
Why did the founding fathers believe in direct election?
Others argued that a straightforward popular vote was unfair, as it would give too much power to larger, more populous states. They also worried that public opinion could be too easily manipulated, and feared direct election might lead to a tyrannical leader determined to grab absolute power for himself.
What is the electoral college?
The Electoral College is how we refer to the process by which the United States elects the President, even though that term does not appear in the U.S. Constitution. In this process, the States (which includes the District of Columbia just for this process) elect the President and Vice President.
What is the Federal Register?
The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) is a part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and, on behalf of the Archivist of the United States, coordinates certain functions of the Electoral College between the States and Congress. Acting as an intermediary, it reviews the Certificates of Ascertainment and Vote before Congress accepts them as evidence of official State action in preparation for the counting of electoral votes in Congress. In addition to posting them on this website, OFR makes the physical Certificates available for public inspection for one year following the election. After that year, the Certificates become part of the National Archives collection.
Does OFR have a role in appointing electors?
OFR has no role in appointing electors and has no contact with them.
What happens if OFR does not receive a certificate of vote?
If OFR does not receive any Certificates of Vote from a State by the deadline for receipt of electoral votes, OFR gets a duplicate original from the Secretary of State of the State or the Federal District judge (3 U.S.C. sections 12 and 13). Preserving Certificates.
How many certificates of election must each state send to the Archivist of the United States?
Each State must send at least one Certificate of Ascertainment to the Archivist of the United States at OFR as soon as possible after the general election results are finalized. At the very latest, they must be prepared so that the electors are appointed by the meeting of the electors and sent to the Archivist with the Certificates of Vote.
What does the NARA mailroom do?
NARA's mailroom makes a record of the Certificates of Vote it receives and transmits them to the OFR. OFR logs receipt of the Certificates of Vote it receives , whether from NARA's mailroom or directly from the States, and checks them for facial legal sufficiency.
What does OFR do with certificates of assurance?
OFR logs receipt of the Certificates of Ascertainment it receives , whether from NARA's mailroom or directly from the States, and checks them for facial sufficiency. If there are any problems with a Certificate of Ascertainment, OFR tells the contact person in the State about the problem.
How many certificates of vote are required?
The electors must execute six Certificates of Vote. Federal law requires that each Certificate of Vote must: contain two distinct lists, one for President and one for Vice President and must: list all persons who received electoral votes for President and the number of electors who voted for each person. list all persons who received votes ...
What is the role of the Archivist of the United States?
OFR and NARA. The Archivist of the United States is required by law to perform certain functions relating to the Electoral College (3 U.S.C. sections 6, 11, 12, 13). The Archivist has delegated the authority to carry out the administration of the Electoral College process to the Director of the Federal Register. Before Election Day.
How many copies of a certificate can a state send?
be signed by the Governor and carry the seal of the State. **States have the option of creating nine original Certificates or seven original Certificates and two certified copies. They then send three original Certificates or one Certificate along with the two certified copies.
What are the arguments against the electoral system?
Arguments between proponents and opponents of the current electoral system include four separate but related topics: indirect election, disproportionate voting power by some states, the winner-takes-all distribution method (as chosen by 48 of the 50 states, and the District of Columbia), and federalism. Arguments against the Electoral College in common discussion focus mostly on the allocation of the voting power among the states. Gary Bugh's research of congressional debates over proposed constitutional amendments to abolish the Electoral College reveals reform opponents have often appealed to a traditional republican version of representation, whereas reform advocates have tended to reference a more democratic view.
What is the 12th amendment?
If no candidate for president receives an absolute majority of the electoral votes (since 1964, 270 of the 538 electoral votes), then the Twelfth Amendment requires the House of Representatives to go into session immediately to choose a president . In this event, the House of Representatives is limited to choosing from among the three candidates who received the most electoral votes for president. Each state delegation votes en bloc —each delegation having a single vote; the District of Columbia does not get to vote. A candidate must receive an absolute majority of state delegation votes (i.e., at present, a minimum of 26 votes) in order for that candidate to become the president-elect. Additionally, delegations from at least two thirds of all the states must be present for voting to take place. The House continues balloting until it elects a president.
How many proposals have been made to reform the electoral college system?
Since 1800 , over 700 proposals to reform or eliminate the system have been introduced in Congress. Proponents of these proposals argued that the electoral college system does not provide for direct democratic election, affords less-populous states an advantage, and allows a candidate to win the presidency without winning the most votes. None of these proposals have received the approval of two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the states required to amend the Constitution.
What is a faithless elector?
A "faithless elector" is one who does not cast an electoral vote for the candidate of the party for whom that elector pledged to vote. Faithless electors are comparatively rare because electors are generally chosen among those who are already personally committed to a party and party's candidate. Thirty-three states plus the District of Columbia have laws against faithless electors, which were first enforced after the 2016 election, where ten electors voted or attempted to vote contrary to their pledges. Faithless electors have never changed the outcome of a U.S. election for president. Altogether, 23,529 electors have taken part in the Electoral College as of the 2016 election; only 165 electors have cast votes for someone other than their party's nominee. Of that group, 71 did so because the nominee had died – 63 Democratic Party electors in 1872, when presidential nominee Horace Greeley died; and eight Republican Party electors in 1912, when vice presidential nominee James S. Sherman died.
How does the electoral college affect voting?
According to this criticism, the electoral college reduces elections to a mere count of electors for a particular state, and, as a result, it obscures any voting problems within a particular state. For example, if a particular state blocks some groups from voting, perhaps by voter suppression methods such as imposing reading tests, poll taxes, registration requirements, or legally disfranchising specific minority groups, then voting inside that state would be reduced, but as the state's electoral count would be the same, disenfranchisement has no effect on the overall electoral tally. Critics contend that such disenfranchisement is partially obscured by the Electoral College. A related argument is the Electoral College may have a dampening effect on voter turnout: there is no incentive for states to reach out to more of its citizens to include them in elections because the state's electoral count remains fixed in any event. According to this view, if elections were by popular vote, then states would be motivated to include more citizens in elections since the state would then have more political clout nationally. Critics contend the electoral college system insulates states from negative publicity as well as possible federal penalties for disenfranching subgroups of citizens.
What is the purpose of the electoral college?
The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president. Each state appoints electors according to its legislature, equal in number to its congressional delegation (senators and representatives).
Why is the electoral college made up of real people?
According to this argument, the fact the Electoral College is made up of real people instead of mere numbers allows for human judgment and flexibility to make a decision, if it happens that a candidate dies or becomes legally disabled around the time of the election, though state laws binding electors and the lack of a single assembly of electors complicate coordination of a unified selection.
How do the states elect their electors?
First, the political parties in each State choose slates of potential electors sometime before the general election. Second, during the general election, the voters in each State select their State's electors by casting their ballots.
What amendments prohibit the appointment of an elector?
Article II, section 1, clause 2 provides that no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector. As a historical matter, the 14th Amendment provides that State officials who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States or given aid and comfort to its enemies are disqualified from serving as electors. This prohibition relates to the post-Civil War era.
How does the presidential election process work?
Generally, the parties either nominate slates of potential electors at their State party conventions or they chose them by a vote of the party's central committee. This happens in each State for each party by whatever rules the State party and (sometimes) the national party have for the process. This first part of the process results in each Presidential candidate having their own unique slate of potential electors.
How many electors does Nebraska have?
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 Nebraska and Maine to award electors to more than one candidate.
Why do political parties choose slates?
Political parties often choose individuals for the slate to recognize their service and dedication to that political party. They may be State elected officials, State party leaders, or people in the State who have a personal or political affiliation with their party's Presidential candidate. (For specific information about how slates of potential electors are chosen, contact the political parties in each State.)
What does the vote do in the general election?
During the general election your vote helps determine your State’s electors. When you vote for a Presidential candidate, you aren’t actually voting for President. You are telling your State which candidate you want your State to vote for at the meeting of electors. The States use these general election results (also known as the popular vote) to appoint their electors. The winning candidate’s State political party selects the individuals who will be electors.
What is the second part of the election process?
The second part of the process happens during the general election. When the voters in each State cast votes for the Presidential candidate of their choice they are voting to select their State's electors. The potential electors' names may or may not appear on the ballot below the name of the Presidential candidates, depending on election procedures and ballot formats in each State.
How do electors get picked?
How electors get picked varies by state, but in general state parties file slates of names for who the electors will be. They include people with ties to those state parties, like current and former party officials, state lawmakers and party activists.
How many electors are there in the US?
There are 538 electors, one for each U.S. senator and U.S. representative, plus three for Washington, D.C., which gets three electoral votes in the presidential election even though it has no voting representation in Congress. The number of electors has changed through history as the number of elected members of Congress has changed with ...
How many electoral votes did Trump get in 2016?
John Kasich and ex-Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, a libertarian star. Trump should have won 306 electoral votes but wound up with 304 instead.
How has the number of electors changed through history?
The number of electors has changed through history as the number of elected members of Congress has changed with the country's expansion and population growth.
What is the meaning of loyalty in the election?
It begins and ends with loyalty — loyalty to state and national parties. That in part is how the candidates are all but guaranteed to have the electors' votes match the ballots cast by regular people in general election voting in each state.
How many people have shown fidelity to the state's popular vote results?
While there have been people who stray from the will of the voters before, historically 99% have shown fidelity to the state's popular vote results.
When did Pennsylvania electors arrive?
Pennsylvania electors arrive in December 2016 to cast their votes for president. Then, their 20 votes went for President Trump. This time, they are slated to go for President-elect Joe Biden. Pennsylvania electors arrive in December 2016 to cast their votes for president. Then, their 20 votes went for President Trump.
