Nov 14 2008
How Does the Popular Vote Work and the Electoral College?
Every 4 years on November 4th, we drag ourselves to our designated poling place to vote for the presidential candidate of our choice. Then in mid-December, the president and vice president are actually elected by the votes of 538 citizens, known as the “electors” of the Electoral College.
BUT HOW DO THEY ELECT A PRESIDENT?
When you cast your vote for president, you are actually instructing the electors that represent your state on how to cast their votes. If you vote for a Republican candidate, you are actually voting for an elector who has pledged to vote for a Republican candidate. If a candidate wins the popular vote in a particular state, they have won all the pledged votes from the electors of that state.
This system was created in Article II of the Constitution and amended in 1804 by the 12th Amendment. In this system each state receives electors that are equal to its members in the U.S. House of Representatives plus one for each of its 2 U.S. Senators.
State law governs how many electors are picked and are often selected by the political party committees in a state. Each elector can cast one vote. There are currently 538 electors, of which 270 most vote on one candidate to win an election. This also means that states that have a larger population will have more Electoral College votes.
If no candidate wins 270 electoral votes the 12th Amendment will be enacted and the election will be decided by the House of Representatives. The representatives of each state will get to cast one vote and a simple majority of states is needed to win. This process has only taken place 2 times. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams were both elected by the House of Representatives.
Eventhough the electors have “pledged” to vote for the party that chose them, nothing in the Constitution or otherwise requires them to. In rare occurrences, an elector will vote faithlessly, but these votes often do not change the outcome of an election and some states have laws that prevent faithless votes from counting.
