How does the electoral college work?
The Electoral College, as established by the U.S. Constitution, currently includes 538 members: one for each U.S. senator and representative and three for the District of Columbia (under the 23rd Amendment of 1961). Each state is allocated a number of electors equal to the number of its U.S. senators (always 2) plus the number of its members in the U.S. House of Representatives (based on population, this is subject to change with the Census every ten years). So, the breakdown of electors is as follows: 100 Senate seats + 435 House of Representative seats + 3 Washington, D.C. = 538 total electors Since the number of electors per state varies by population, California holds the most electors with 55. Several states have only three electors, which is the smallest number a state can have based on the formula described above. For any presidential candidate to win, he or she must gain a majority of the 538 votes, or the magic number of 270.
Each state has a number of electors in the Electoral College equal to the total of its US senators (always two) and its representatives, which are determined by the size of the state’s population. Technically, Americans vote for the electors not the candidate. California, the most populous state, has 55 electoral votes. A few small states and the District of Columbia have only three. There are 538 electors in the College. In all but two states, Maine and Nebraska, the College works on a winner-takes-all basis. The winner of the popular vote in a state gets all the Electoral College votes in that state. To become president, a candidate needs 270 Electoral College votes. The winning candidate does not need to win the national popular vote. Why was the system chosen? When the United States was founded, a national campaign was almost impossible given the communications; states were jealous of their rights; political parties were suspect and the popular vote somewhat feared.
The Electoral College is a controversial mechanism of presidential elections that was created by the framers of the U.S. Constitution as a compromise for the presidential election process. At the time, some politicians believed a purely popular election was too reckless, while others objected to giving Congress the power to select the president. The compromise was to set up an Electoral College system that allowed voters to vote for electors, who would then cast their votes for candidates, a system described in Article II, section 1 of the Constitution.
It may surprise you to know that Russia has a more direct presidential election process than the United States. In the United States, a system called the Electoral College periodically allows a candidate who receives fewer popular votes to win an election. In fact, there have been several presidential candidates who won the popular vote, but lost the election because they received fewer electoral votes. In Russia, where no such system exists, the candidate who receives a majority of popular votes wins the election. Every four years, on the Tuesday following the first Monday of November, millions of U.S. citizens go to local voting booths to elect, among other officials, the next president and vice president of their country. Their votes will be rec
The number of electors is based on the state’s population. THe states with the greatest population have the most electoral votes. WHen the voter casts a vote for president, in reality the vote goes to one of the presidential electors designated by the candidate in that state. The number of electors for each state equals the number of senators and representatives that state has in Congess. THus the number can change based on the census. The candidate who receives the most votes receives all the elctoral votes in that state. The candidate with a majority of the electoral votes is elected to office. The electors gather in Washington, D.C., in December and cast their ballots based on the results of the November elction. If no candidate receives a majority of the elecoral votes, the election of president is determinde by the House of Representatives.
