Electoral College

The Electoral College is housed in the Constitution in Article II, Section 1, and in the 12th Amendment. Article II stated that the Electoral College would elect both the President and the Vice President in a single election; the person with a majority would become President and the runner-up would become Vice President. The 12th Amendment proposed by the U.S. Congress on December 9, 1803 and ratified by the requisite number of state legislatures on June 15, 1804, required electors to cast two distinct votes: one for President and another for Vice President. (Wikipedia, 1) As we talked about during class, every state receives as many electors as it has members of the House of Representatives and in the Senate. In order to be elected, the candidate running needs to be in control of 270 out of the possible 538 electoral votes given to the states. If there is no majority in the states for the Presidential election, the election is then given to the House of Representatives for them to vote on, and in the House, they only require a simple majority of 26 votes. "If the House fails to choose a President by January 20, the 20th Amendment provides that the newly elected Vice President shall act as President until it does. If no person receives majority for Vice President, the Senate decides between the top two candidates. It takes a majority of the whole Senate to elect. The Senate has had to choose a Vice President only once. It elected Richard M. Johnson in 1837." (The Election, 1)

The chart shown below shows the amount of electoral votes that each state receivesÐ'... (USINFO.STATE.GOV)

As of 2006, 34 states electors are able to vote based on their conscience, but rarely does that happen. The Electors usually tend to cast their vote for the candidate that won the states popular vote. It is almost as if their job is to finalize the states election and make it official. The Party of the state elects the electors of the state, usually out of gratitude for dedicated service to their state or country in some form. As we learned, it does not take a great deal to become an Elector. "The U.S. Constitution contains very few provisions relating to the qualifications of electors. 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." (archives.org)

One strength of the Electoral College is that it encourages the candidates to do more campaigning in both large cities and small cities in the states that they are fighting to win. The candidates need to win over the majority of the state and not just the big cities, even though they seem to be the ones that have the most political pull, in order to influence the electors to select them. Another strength of the College is that in a close, contested election, if there is a need for a recount, it would only need to be done in only that state rather than a nation wide recount Ð'- which would be the cause if a direct popular vote was instituted to elect the President. Also, the College can make a victory seem much larger in numbers than it actually was and by doing that, the candidate's legitimacy is seemed as indisputable. Lastly, "Since the electoral college operates on a State-by-State basis, this not only enhances the status of minorities by affording them a greater proportional influence within a smaller block of voters at the State level but it also ensures a geographically diverse population which makes regional domination, or domination of urban over suburban or rural areas, virtually impossible. In fact, since no one region of the country has 270 electoral votes, there is an incentive for a candidate to form coalitions of States and regions rather than to accentuate regional differences." (StrongerFamilies)

One major defect in the Electoral College system is that there is the chance that the winner of the popular vote will not be the one that wins the presidency. This is because the Electoral College has their own version of "winner take all" and that means that in each State the winning candidate of the popular vote normally receives all of the State's electoral votes. But sometimes that isn't the case, because no where in the Constitution does it state that the electors are required to vote for the candidate that won the popular vote. Even though they are not required to do so, most electors want to remain loyal to their respected parties and usually do vote for the popular vote winner. "Thus far, electors have "broken their pledges" Ð'- voted for someone other than this party's presidential nominee-on only nine occasions: in 1796, 1820, 1948, 1956, 1960, 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1988. In the most recent case, a West Virginia elector turned her party's ticket upside down; she voted for Lloyd Bentsen for President and Michael Dukakis for Vice President. Bentsen was the Democrats' candidate