During the first three Presidential elections the President and the Vice-President were chosen by the number of electoral votes. The vice-president was chosen by having the second highest number of electoral votes.
All states do have at least three electors who cast electoral votes.
Changing the electoral college system in the United States would require a constitutional amendment, which involves a proposal by two-thirds of both houses of Congress or a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of state legislatures, followed by ratification by three-fourths of the states.
The three methods of the presidential election discussed by the framers of the Constitution were; Congressional selection, direct vote of the people and electoral college. In the end electoral college won out.
Under the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, Washington, D.C. is allocated as many electors as it would have if it were a state, (but no more electors than the least populous state). Since every state has at least 3 electoral votes, Washington, D.C. is allocated 3 electoral votes.
The electoral college was created indirectly. The U.S. electoral system was created by the United States Constitution which was ratified in 1788. The Twelfth Amendment (Amendment XII) to the United States Constitution provides the current procedure for electing the President and Vice President. The amendment was proposed by the Congress on December 9, 1803, and was ratified by the requisite three-fourths of state legislatures on June 15, 1804.
The Electoral College is what really decides the presidency. Sadly, the Popular vote is only supposed to persuade your electoral college representative to vote for the dominant side, but in some cases that does not happen
The president of the United States is not elected by direct popular vote, but rather by the electoral college. A mere 538 people, chosen by voters in all the states are the ones who actually elect the president. The candidate with the majority of electoral votes wins the presidency.
The electoral college is a compromise that gives the smaller states more say in the election of the president. Even state is given three electoral votes. The remaining votes are distributed by population. If population alone determined the number of votes, the larger states would always elect the president. The federal governments was formed by the states, not the other way around.The states are quite different and have different populations and interests and attitudes. The winning candidate must appeal to a large and diverse segment of the population rather than be extremely popular is just a few states.
The number of electoral votes are based on the population, so each state 'should' have as many electoral votes as needed by their population, with minimum of three. For instance, California is the most populated state and has the most electoral votes, currently at 55. Wyoming and a number of other states are not as populated and have the least electoral votes, currently at 3.
New Jersey has 15 Electoral College Votes compared California's 55 and 34 for Texas. Alaska has three and Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Deiaware, DC, and Vermont also have three.
The three smallest number of electoral votes that a candidate could possibly win are zero, three, and six.