What's the deal with the Electoral College? If we're gonna talk about college, I might as well dress the part all right. Time to get ready for a lesson in math history and a little bit of geography. Now the Electoral College is not a real college. It's the group of people who actually picked the president. When you head to the polls on Election Day, you're technically not voting for a candidate, rather for your state's electors. Now, to understand this, you need to know a little bit of math. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors, usually political insiders nominated by a states, Democratic and Republican parties. There are the same number of electors as there are members of Congress. 435 for the House of Representatives. Ah 100 for the Senate in D. C. Gets three. Ah, presidential candidate needs 270 votes to win the White House. Now that brings us to the history lesson. The system was created when the founders were trying to figure out how we would pick the president. Some wanted Congress to do it, but that might give lawmakers too much power. Others wanted a pure popular vote. But there wasn't a ton of faith in the knowledge or the judgment of regular folks at the time. So they're compromise was the Electoral College, and that's now enshrined in the Constitution. And this is where geography comes in. The Electoral College was our founders balanced the voting power between the North and the South. At the time, you had to be at least a 21 year old landowning white guy to vote. But representation in Congress and the Electoral College was based on states population, while the South had a lot of people. Ah, lot of them were enslaved. Black folks crudely deemed his property so the North would always hold an advantage. Incomes the 3/5 compromise. Those black people would be counted as 3/5 of a person, boosting population numbers for Southern states. Now that was repealed back in 18 68 but the Electoral College stuck around without it. Some say candidates could just focus on cities with a lot of people and a lot of votes, and literally fly over rural America when it comes to campaigning and building policies. Now, on the flip side, Some say that because of the Electoral College, candidates put too much focus on wooing just a handful of Sway hable swing states. And they argue it doesn't respect the vote of every American. In fact, five times in history, the winner of the popular vote did not win the White House. Hey, not yet get some extra credit to finish first. Election Day falls on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, but the final test for presidential hopeful isn't until the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. That's when each state's electors get to meet and vote for The president didn't make the calendars kind of weird, and that's the deal with the Electoral College. Alright, Class dismissed.
A guide to how the Electoral College works
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Updated: 7:37 AM CDT Oct 29, 2020
What is the Electoral College?The Electoral College comprises delegates from each state and Washington, D.C., who are appointed by their respective state legislatures to cast a vote for a specific candidate. In essence, when you cast your vote for a presidential candidate, you're actually casting a vote for your state to appoint an elector who will officially vote for that candidate.The concept of choosing electors was laid out in the Constitution, which mandates that the number of delegates each state receives is equal to the number of its Congressional representatives (Washington, D.C., receives the same number of electors as the least populous state). Currently, this means there are 538 voters in the Electoral College, with an absolute majority of at least 270 votes required to win an election.How are electors chosen?Each state legislature is allowed to determine how its own electors are selected. The only hard and fast rules, according to the Constitution, are that electors cannot be currently holding any federal office, nor can they have "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the nation.Typically, political parties in each state nominate electors based on their consistency and loyalty to the party over the years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. This way, they can hopefully avoid the phenomenon of "faithless electors," who are nominated to vote for a specific party but end up changing their vote in the actual election.Do we still need the Electoral College?Almost 60% of Americans say no, according to Pew Research survey. The premise of an Electoral College was devised more than 200 years ago, when there were just 13 states and the only people allowed to vote were white land-owning men. The framers of the Constitution believed state-appointed delegates were necessary to represent the best interests of a largely uneducated, rural American population. Now, with more than 200 million diverse voters spread from coast to coast, concentrated in urban areas and more educated than ever, critics of the Electoral College say it's counterproductive to still be using the same system after more than two centuries of nationwide change.Take, for example, the case of a swing state like Iowa, which ranks in the bottom half of the most populous U.S. states, yet has played a decidedly outsize role in determining the winners of most recent presidential elections. Because of how delegates are allotted, each of Iowa's six Electoral College votes represents about 525,000 Iowans, while California, the most populous state in the country, sees 718,000 Californians represented by each of its 55 Electoral College votes.On top of all this, there's always the possibility of a faithless elector, who, in deciding not to vote for the candidate they were supposed to, completely negates a chunk of their state's popular votes. Currently, 33 states and Washington, D.C., have laws in place that bar members of the Electoral College from changing their votes, but only a handful of these laws actually penalize faithless electors and/or erase their changed votes.So, does your vote count?Absolutely. Regardless of how much (or how little) representative weight your vote may seem to carry in the Electoral College, elections can be determined by just a handful of votes in any state, big or small. Your vote could be the one that clinches a win for your candidate in your district, and your district could then act as a tipping point to clinch that win across the state, therefore prompting your state's electors to cast their votes for that candidate on the formal Electoral College ballot in December. Too many elections have been decided not by unpredictable swing states, but by the millions of voters who stay home because they believe their vote doesn't count 鈥� so make sure you're registered and make a plan to vote today.
What is the Electoral College?
The Electoral College comprises delegates from each state and Washington, D.C., who are appointed by their respective state legislatures to cast a vote for a specific candidate. In essence, when you cast your vote for a presidential candidate, you're actually casting a vote for your state to appoint an elector who will officially vote for that candidate.
The concept of choosing electors was laid out in the Constitution, which mandates that the number of delegates each state receives is equal to the number of its Congressional representatives (Washington, D.C., receives the same number of electors as the least populous state). Currently, this means there are 538 voters in the Electoral College, with an absolute majority of at least 270 votes required to win an election.
How are electors chosen?
Each state legislature is allowed to determine how its own electors are selected. The only hard and fast rules, according to the Constitution, are that electors cannot be currently holding any federal office, nor can they have "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the nation.
Typically, political parties in each state nominate electors based on their consistency and loyalty to the party over the years, to the National Conference of State Legislatures. This way, they can hopefully avoid the phenomenon of "faithless electors," who are nominated to vote for a specific party but end up changing their vote in the actual election.
Do we still need the Electoral College?
Almost of Americans say no, according to Pew Research survey. The premise of an Electoral College was devised more than 200 years ago, when there were just 13 states and the only people allowed to vote were white land-owning men. The framers of the Constitution believed state-appointed delegates were necessary to represent the best interests of a largely uneducated, rural American population. Now, with more than 200 million diverse voters spread from coast to coast, concentrated in urban areas and more educated than ever, critics of the Electoral College say it's counterproductive to still be using the same system after more than two centuries of nationwide change.
Take, for example, the case of a like Iowa, which ranks in the bottom half of the most populous U.S. states, yet has played a decidedly outsize role in determining the winners of most recent presidential elections. Because of how delegates are allotted, each of Iowa's six Electoral College votes represents about 525,000 Iowans, while California, the most populous state in the country, sees 718,000 Californians represented by each of its 55 Electoral College votes.
On top of all this, there's always the possibility of a faithless elector, who, in deciding not to vote for the candidate they were supposed to, completely negates a chunk of their state's popular votes. Currently, 33 states and Washington, D.C., have in place that bar members of the Electoral College from changing their votes, but only a handful of these laws actually penalize faithless electors and/or erase their changed votes.
So, does your vote count?
Absolutely. Regardless of how much (or how little) representative weight your vote may seem to carry in the Electoral College, elections can be determined by just a handful of votes in any state, big or small. Your vote could be the one that clinches a win for your candidate in your district, and your district could then act as a tipping point to clinch that win across the state, therefore prompting your state's electors to cast their votes for that candidate on the formal Electoral College ballot in December.
Too many elections have been decided not by unpredictable swing states, but by the millions of voters who stay home because they believe their vote doesn't count 鈥� so make sure you're registered and make a plan to vote today.
