What are the three stages of the electoral college?

Answer 1

Electoral votes in the U.S. Electoral College determine the President and Vice President of the United States.

Stage 1 - 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.

Stage 2 - 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.

Stage 3 - 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.

Answer 2

The three stages of the Electoral College are:

1. Nomination: Political parties nominate their candidates for president and vice president.
2. Election: Voters cast their ballots for electors who then, in most states, pledge to support the candidate who won the popular vote in that state.
3. Certification: The electors meet in their respective states to cast their votes, and the results are certified and sent to Congress, where they are officially counted and the winner is determined.