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The Electoral College was established by the Constitution to provide a means to assure that all states would have an equal opportunity to affect the outcome of a presidential election.
Each state sends electors to the College based upon the total number of its congressional representatives--two for its senators, and one for each House Of Representatives member it elects. Since states with larger populations have more House members elected, those states have more electoral votes. The total number of electoral votes is 538, which represents the total number of members in the House and Senate--including non-voting members from US territories.
When you vote for president, what you actually are doing is voting for a slate of electors from that party who have pledged their votes to that candidate. The candidate with the most votes in a particular state will actually send their particular slate of electors from that state to the Electoral College to cast their votes for that candidate. That's what is meant by "(candidate) has picked up 3 electoral votes from Wyoming". That candidate won that state and got their 3 electors from Wyoming selected.
The candidate who receives the majority of electoral votes--270--will become president, since those electors will cast their votes for that candidate.
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
Wiki User
∙ 6y agoEach state has electoral votes equal to the total of the 2 representative the state has in the U.S. Senate plus the number of representative the state has in the U.S. House of Representatives. The District of Columbia gets 3 electoral votes. Therefore, the total number of electoral votes is 538 - 100 (senators) + 435 (representatives) +3 (for DC).
Based on the 2010 Census the electoral votes by state are: Alabama - 9, Alaska - 3, Arizona - 11, Arkansas - 6, California - 55, Colorado -9, Connecticut - 7, Delaware - 3, District of Columbia - 3, Florida - 29, Georgia - 16, Hawaii - 4, Idaho - 4, Illinois - 20, Indiana - 11, Iowa - 6, Kansas - 6, Kentucky - 8, Louisiana - 8, Maine - 4, Maryland - 10, Massachusetts - 11, Michigan - 16, Minnesota - 10, Mississippi - 6, Missouri - 10, Montana - 3, Nebraska - 5, Nevada - 6, New Hampshire 4 , New Jersey - 14, New Mexico - 5, New York - 29, North Carolina - 15, North Dakota - 3, Ohio - 18, Oklahoma - 7, Oregon - 7, Pennsylvania - 20, Rhode Island - 4, South Carolina - 9, South Dakota - 3, Tennessee - 11, Texas - 38, Utah - 6, Vermont - 3, Virginia - 13, Washington - 12, West Virginia - 5, Wisconsin - 10, and Wyoming - 3.
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Which of the following is not an objection to the way the Electoral College works?
The Electoral college gives the same number of votes to all of the states (NovaNET)----the electoral college gives the same number of votes to all of the states (novanet)----
What is the Electoral College and what role does it play in a presidential election?
The electoral college is the ultimate form of election. People vote for electors, who then distribute themselves to the various states at an allotment ratio based on the population of people that bothered to vote in the previous election. They then poll the residents and politicians of that state and, once they've verified the polling results, go to Washington DC to consider voting for the candidates that the state they were assigned to voted for. After meeting with high ranking government officials for a last round of debate and campaigning, the college retreats to a room in the Capitol building where they lock themselves in and don't come out until they are done. They vote in secret and burn white smoke atop the Capitol dome as a signal once they have agreed on the next president of the United States.
How electoral college work?
the electoral college works like this the convention delegates settled on a system in which each state legislature would choose a number of electors. The electoral college would select the president and vice president.
How does electoral college actually works?
Electoral votes in the U.S. Electoral College determine the President and Vice President of the United States. Every state and the District of Columbia are awarded a certain number of electoral votes with which to elect the President. Each state has electoral votes equal to the total of the 2 representative the state has in the U.S. Senate plus the number of representative the state has in the House of Representatives. Since every state has two senators and at least one representative to the House, every state has at least 3 electoral votes. The District of Columbia gets 3 electoral votes. Therefore, the total number of electoral votes is 538 - 100 (senators) + 435 (representatives) + 3 (for DC). A majority is 270 - one more than half of the total number of 538. The electors in each state are elected in the presidential election and swear in advance to vote for the presidential candidate who wins the election in their state. Electors meet in their respective state capitals (electors for the District of Columbia meet within the District) on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December, at which time they cast their electoral votes on separate ballots for president and vice-president. Each state then forwards the election results to the President of the U.S. Senate, the Archivist of the United States, the state's Secretary of State, and the chief judge of the United States district court where those electors met. A joint session of Congress takes place on January 6 in the calendar year immediately following the meetings of the presidential electors. The electoral votes are officially tabulated at the joint session of Congress and the winner of the election is officially declared.
What are arguments for changing the way the Electoral College works?
The main argument for making a change to the Electoral College is that it allows for a winner of the popular vote to lose the presidential election. However, two things need to be answered. If the Electoral College system is so bad, why does it still exist? There have been a few hundred years to alter it. Secondly, as with the US Senate, a small state has the same weight in the US Senate as a large state. It's clear the Framers believed that the states, the "mother" of the US Constitution, should cast their Electoral Votes, all of them to the winner of a state. The formula to change this is an amendment to the Constitution.
Why are electors so important?
Some reasons why it is considered beneficial: It contributes to the cohesiveness of the country by requiring a distribution of popular support to be elected president. It enhances the status of minority interests. It contributes to the political stability of the nation by encouraging a two-party system. It maintains a federal system of government and representation. However, one of the college's initial benefits has been lost through the expansion and concentration of the US population (and of the elector distribution): it no longer affords an advantage to smaller states, which are marginalized because they cannot influence the outcome of the election. Additionally, while a two-party system benefits from the electoral college, the country as a whole does not directly benefit from the two-party system. Some political party platforms seem designed more to court certain voters than to properly run the country.
What the Electoral College does and how it works?
Electoral votes in the U.S. Electoral College determine the President and Vice President of the United States. Every state and the District of Columbia are awarded a certain number of electoral votes with which to elect the President. Each state has electoral votes equal to the total of the 2 representative the state has in the U.S. Senate plus the number of representative the state has in the House of Representatives. Since every state has two senators and at least one representative to the House, every state has at least 3 electoral votes. The District of Columbia gets 3 electoral votes. Therefore, the total number of electoral votes is 538 - 100 (senators) + 435 (representatives) + 3 (for DC). A majority is 270 - one more than half of the total number of 538. The political parties in each state choose slates of potential Electors sometime before the general election. The electoral college Electors in most states are selected by state party conventions or by the state party's central committee. In a few states the Electors are selected by primary election or by the party's presidential nominee. Political parties often choose Electors that are state elected officials, state party leaders, or people in the state who have a personal or political affiliation with their party's Presidential candidate. On Election Day, the voters in each state select their state's Electors by casting their ballots for President. In most states, the names of individual Electors do not appear anywhere on the ballot; instead only those of the various candidates for President and Vice President appear, usually prefaced by the words "Electors for." The Electors are expected to vote for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the party that nominated them. The entire Electoral College does not meet together in one place. Electors meet in their respective state capitals (electors for the District of Columbia meet within the District) on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December, at which time they cast their electoral votes on separate ballots for president and vice-president. Each state then forwards the election results to the President of the U.S. Senate, the Archivist of the United States, the state's Secretary of State, and the chief judge of the United States district court where those electors met. A joint session of Congress takes place on January 6 in the calendar year immediately following the meetings of the presidential electors. Senate pages bring in the boxes containing each state's certified vote and place them on tables in front of the Senators and Representatives. Each house appoints two tellers to count the vote (normally one member of each political party). Relevant portions of the Certificate of Vote are read for each state, in alphabetical order. The electoral votes are officially tabulated at the joint session of Congress and the winner of the election is officially declared. The sitting vice-president is expected to preside at the joint session.
What is a description of the New Jersey plan?
howit works is the smaller states wanted equal number of Representatives for each state.
How does electoral college work and what are its flaws?
States are given electoral votes equivalent to their populations. During the Presidential elections, the candidate with the most votes takes all the votes assigned to that state. For example, winner takes all. The purpose of this formula is to insure that rural or lightly populated areas of the nation are still afforded some representation and consideration by candidates and politicians. If the electoral college were not in place and the President was elected by a simple majority then candidates would completely disregard over 75% of the nation that is sparsely populated. For example, they would only campaign in the densely populated urban areas of the coasts and major cities. This would result in the disenfranchisement of a great number of middle class, midwestern and southern citizens and probably the dissolution of the union or worse. In their ulimate wisdom, our founding fathers foresaw this eventuality and created the electoral college that forced candidates to campaign across the entire nation.
What are advantage to the electoral college?
Depends on whether you live in a swing state or not. If you do, then it has the benefit that presidential candidates pay attention to you, while completely ignoring "safe" states.It reduces the physical number of ballots that count. Making it more difficult to rig an election. If the president was elected based on the popular vote it would be much easier to rig.Counter-opinion:The electoral college makes it much easier to fix an election. Rigging the popular vote is an enormous undertaking and would involve faking hundreds of thousands if not millions of votes to make any sort of difference on a national scale. But the Electoral College presents the easiest way to rig an election. To win the Presidency, a candidate must win 270 of the 538 electoral votes. The most important fact to remember about the Electoral College is that the members of the Electoral College have no legal obligation to vote for the person they promised to vote for when they were chosen to be Electors. None. In fact, the Framers of the Constitution planned it that way. Once the election is over and all the votes are in, we know who the electors are and who they are supposed to vote for. If one candidate has a majority of say 10 electoral votes, 274 to 264, then all the other side has to do is find enough Electors willing to sell their votes to change the outcome. In this situation all you would need is 6 votes. Add 6 to the existing 264 to get to the magic number 270. Take away 6 from the "winner's" 274 and he is left with 268. Of course, it is illegal for an Elector to sell his vote, but not illegal for him to change his mind. So an elector might not even have to be paid off to change his/her vote, just talked into it. In any event, anyone who works in elections will tell you, the smaller the number of votes, the easier it is to fix.
How could a presidential candidate have a majority greater then half of the popular vote but not win the national election?
the electoral votes may be against him Another answer: In the United States people do not vote directly for a president but for a particular state's electors. Each state has many electors as it had senators and representatives in congress. The voters in each state elect that state's electors. In 3 states, New York, Michigan, and California, and in the District of Columbia, millions more people are likely to vote for a Democrat than a Republican. Those votes will still simply count for the electors for those states. Republicans will win other states by much smaller majorities. Still, the Republicans will get the electoral votes from those states. In Illinois it will depend on whether more people vote or whether more tombstones in Chicago vote as to who gets those electors. So basically it is because the way the electoral college works that a candidate can have a national majority and not win the election. In that case the majority tends to be clustered in several small areas. The winner's supporters tend to be spread out all over the nation.
What is a sentence for the word electorate?
His promise of tax cuts for low-income workers appealed to the electorate.
