The Electoral College

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THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
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DEFINITION

• A group of people named by each state
  legislature to select the President and Vice
  President

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During the General Election when casting a ballot
for a particular candidate, voters are actually
voting for a slate of electors. These electors
in turn will vote for that candidate in the
Electoral College
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The Electoral College was devised for 3 reasons

• 1. The framers of the Constitution feared
  direct democracy. Hamilton and the other
  founders did not trust the population to make
  the right choice.
• election should be made by men most capable
  of analyzing the qualities adapted to the
  station James Madison

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The Electoral College was devised for 3 reasons

• 2. The founding fathers wanted to protect the
  interests of smaller states and rural areas

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The Electoral College was devised for 3 reasons

• 3. The Electoral College helps dilute the
  effect of votes from densely populated centers
  which may steer away from the concerns of the
  rest of the country

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Presidential Electors are nominated by their
state political parties in the summer before the
Popular Vote on Election Day

• In some states, the Electors are nominated in
  primaries the same way that other candidates are
  nominated
• Other states nominate Electors in party
  conventions
• In Pennsylvania, the campaign committees of the
  candidates name their candidates for Presidential
  Elector

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ELECTORS

• The number of electors for each state is based on
• of senators of representatives
• Pennsylvania has 21 Electoral votes
• All states have a minimum of 3 electoral votes

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The party that wins a state elects its entire
slate of Electors. This is known as a Winner
Take-all System(2 exceptions Maine Nebraska)
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The Presidential Electors meet in their
respective state capitols in December, 41 days
following the election, at which time they cast
their electoral votes. Thus the "electoral
college" never meets as one national body.
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• Candidates must receive a majority of the
  electoral vote to be declared the President-elect
  or Vice-President-elect

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ELECTORAL VOTES

• 435 U.S. Representatives
• 100 U.S. Senators
• 535 electoral votes
• 3 electoral votes (Washington D.C.)
• -----------------------------------------
• 538 total electoral votes

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If no candidate for President receives an
absolute electoral majority 270 votes out of the
538 possible, then the House of Representatives
is required to go into session immediately to
vote for President. (an even split would be 269
votes)
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The House votes en-bloc by state for this purpose
that is, one vote per state, which is determined
by the majority decision of the delegation from
that state.if a state delegation is evenly
split that state is considered as abstaining.
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This vote would be repeated if necessary until
one candidate receives the votes of more than
half the state delegationsat least 26 state
votes, given the current number, 50, of states in
the union.
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If no candidate for Vice President receives an
absolute majority of electoral votes, then the
United States Senate must do the same, with the
top two vote getters for that office as
candidates. The Senate votes in the normal manner
in this case, not by States. It is unclear if the
sitting Vice President would be entitled to cast
his usual tie-breaking vote if the Senate should
be evenly split on the matter
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If the House of Representatives has not chosen a
winner in time for the inauguration (noon on
January 20), then the Constitution of the United
States specifies that the new Vice President
becomes Acting President until the House selects
a President. If the winner of the Vice
Presidential election is not known by then
either, then under the Presidential Succession
Act of 1947, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives would become Acting President
until the House selects a President or the Senate
selects a Vice President
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As of 2006, the House of Representatives has
elected the President on two occasions, in 1801
and in 1825.
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A faithless elector is one who casts an electoral
vote for someone other than whom they have
pledged to elect. On 158 occasions, electors have
cast their votes for president in a different
manner than that prescribed by the legislature of
the state they represent.
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Of those, 71 votes were changed because the
original candidate died before the elector was
able to cast a vote. Two votes were not cast at
all when electors chose to abstain from casting
their electoral vote for any candidate. The
remaining 85 were changed by the elector's
personal interest or perhaps by accident.
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Since a state's electoral slate is chosen by the
political party, and electors are usually those
with high loyalty to the party and its candidate,
a faithless elector runs a greater risk of party
censure than governmental action