What was the original purpose of the Electoral College?
The Founding Fathers established the Electoral College in the Constitution, in part, as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.
What is the purpose of the Electoral College and how does it work?
In the Electoral College system, each state gets a certain number of electors based on its total number of representatives in Congress. Each elector casts one electoral vote following the general election; there are a total of 538 electoral votes. The candidate that gets more than half (270) wins the election.
Why is the electoral college important quizlet?
The Electoral College was created for two reasons. The first purpose was to create a buffer between population and the selection of a President. The second as part of the structure of the government that gave extra power to the smaller states.
What is the purpose of electoral system?
An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Political electoral systems are organized by governments, while non-political elections may take place in business, non-profit organisations and informal organisations.
What are 3 major flaws in the electoral college?
Three criticisms of the College are made: It is “undemocratic;” It permits the election of a candidate who does not win the most votes; and. Its winner-takes-all approach cancels the votes of the losing candidates in each state.
Who picks the Electoral College?
Who selects the electors? Choosing each State’s electors is a two-part process. First, the political parties in each State choose slates of potential electors sometime before the general election. Second, during the general election, the voters in each State select their State’s electors by casting their ballots.
How is electoral college votes determined?
Under the “Electoral College” system, each state is assigned a certain number of “votes”. The formula for determining the number of votes for each state is simple: each state gets two votes for its two US Senators, and then one more additional vote for each member it has in the House of Representatives.
Does Electoral College follow popular vote?
When citizens cast their ballots for president in the popular vote, they elect a slate of electors. Electors then cast the votes that decide who becomes president of the United States. Usually, electoral votes align with the popular vote in an election.
What is the Electoral College simplified?
The United States Electoral College is a name used to describe the official 538 Presidential electors who come together every four years during the presidential election to give their official votes for President and Vice President of the United States. No state can have fewer than three electors.
Do all of a states electoral votes go to one candidate?
Electors. Most states require that all electoral votes go to the candidate who receives the most votes in that state. After state election officials certify the popular vote of each state, the winning slate of electors meet in the state capital and cast two ballots—one for Vice President and one for President.
Who counts the electoral college votes and declares the president?
§15. After all the votes are recorded and counted, the President of the Senate declares which persons, if any, have been elected President and Vice President of the United States.
What do electors do after election?
After Election Day, on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, these electors assemble in their state capitals, cast their ballots, and officially select the next President of the United States. Legally, the electors may vote for someone other than the candidate for whom they were pledged to vote.
What happens if not enough electoral votes?
If no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the Presidential election leaves the Electoral College process and moves to Congress. The Senate elects the Vice President from the 2 Vice Presidential candidates with the most electoral votes. Each Senator casts one vote for Vice President.
Which two states split up the electors between candidates?
Under the District Method, a State’s electoral votes can be split among two or more candidates, just as a state’s congressional delegation can be split among multiple political parties. As of 2008, Nebraska and Maine are the only states using the District Method of distributing electoral votes.
How many electors does each state have in the Electoral College?
What is the makeup of the Electoral College? The total number of electors is 538. Each state is assigned a number of electors equal to its two Senate seats plus the number of seats in the House of Representatives. Per the 23rd Amendment, the District of Columbia is allotted three electoral votes.
How electoral votes are allocated to states?
Electoral votes are allocated among the States based on the Census. Every State is allocated a number of votes equal to the number of senators and representatives in its U.S. Congressional delegation—two votes for its senators in the U.S. Senate plus a number of votes equal to the number of its Congressional districts.
How many electoral votes is Alaska worth?
Based on this, Alaska has three electors. State law determines how the names of the electors are chosen. In Alaska, each political party selects their electors, equal in number to the state’s electoral vote, by the state party convention or in another manner prescribed by the party’s bylaws.
How does the Electoral College work quizlet?
Initially, in the electoral college, electors vote for president. Each elector votes for two persons. The person with the greatest number (must be a majority) of votes won the presidency; the person with the second most votes became the vice president. The senate would vote then elect the vice president.
Is the Electoral College a fair method of electing the president quizlet?
Is the electoral college fair? Yes because it gives the smaller states more say in the election. Also the president has to go to every state. And the winner of the popular vote might not win the election.
What is the main function of the Electoral College quizlet?
The Electoral college is the group of people (electors) chosen from each state and the district of Columbia to formally select the President and Vice President. A person elected by the voters to represent them in making a formal selection of the Vice President and President. State electors – chosen by states.
How many Electoral College votes are allocated to each state quizlet?
one electoral vote
What is the process and timeline for counting electoral votes quizlet?
Electoral votes from each state are collected and sent to the President of the Senate (the Vice President), who then hands them over to Congress once they convene in early January. Then the votes are officially counted in the presence of both houses of Congress.
Why did our Founding Fathers create the Electoral College?
The Electoral College was created by the framers of the U.S. Constitution as an alternative to electing the president by popular vote or by Congress. Several weeks after the general election, electors from each state meet in their state capitals and cast their official vote for president and vice president.
Why did the Founding Fathers create the Electoral College quizlet?
The framers created the Electoral College, because they didn’t trust the people to make electoral decisions on their own. They wanted the president chosen by what they thought of as “enlightened statesmen”.
Who is represented in the Electoral College quizlet?
A group of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president. The national election, where one candidate from each party competes to get the position. Each state has as many electors as it has senators and representatives in Congress.
What is electoral college quizlet?
electoral college. A group selected by the states to elect the president and the vice-president, in which each state’s number of electors is equal to the number of its senators and representatives in Congress.
What is the minimum number of electoral votes for a state quizlet?
what is the lowest number of electors a state can have? 3; because every state has at least 1 person in the house of representatives and every state has only 2 senates because of the Great Compromise. You just studied 14 terms!
How does the Electoral College work quizlet AP Gov?
How does the Electoral college work? -Each state is given a number of electors based on their number of US Senators and Representatives. Total=538 [435-Based on the #House (proportional to the state population); 100- Based on Senators (2 for each state); 3- From Washington D.C.]
What would be required to abolish the Electoral College quizlet?
1) The only way to abolish (get rid of) the Electoral College is with an amendment to the Constitution. 2) That would require 2/3rds vote in Congress & 3/4th of the states to ratify an amendment.
What happens if the Electoral College is tied?
In such a situation, the House chooses one of the top three presidential electoral vote-winners as the president, while the Senate chooses one of the top two vice presidential electoral vote-winners as vice president.