How is an electoral chosen?

Answer 1

Candidates for electors are nominated by their parties. The voters determine the electors when they vote for President and vice-president. The names of the candidates for elector often do not appear on the ballot but a vote for a presidential candidate is actually a vote for his party's slate of electors.

Answer 2

Electoral votes determine the President of the United States. Every state and DC are awarded a certain number of electoral votes with which to elect the President. The number is the total number of representative the state has in Congress in both houses total. Since every state has two senators and at least one representative to the House, every state has at least 3 electoral votes. The states choose as many electors as it has electoral votes and these electors elect the president. The electors are elected by popular vote in each state and each candidate for elector swears in advance whom he will vote for.

Since the election of 1824, most states have appointed their electors on a winner-take-all basis, based on the statewide popular vote on Election Day. Maine and Nebraska are the only two current exceptions, as both states use the congressional district method. Maine and Nebraska use the "congressional district method", selecting one elector within each congressional district by popular vote and awarding two electors by a statewide popular vote.

Answer 3

Each state gets to appoint a number of electors equal to the total number of Senators and Representatives the state has in Congress. That number ranges from 3 for the 7 states with the smallest populations to 55 for California, the most populous state. The District of Columbia also appoints three. Each state Legislature has the right to decide how the electors are appointed. All 51 governments choose electors based on public vote. 49 of the 51 do it on a winner-take-all basis; 100% of the appointed electors from those states are people who have pledged to vote for the candidate who got the most votes from the voters of that state/ territory. In Nebraska and Maine, only two electoral votes go to the candidate with the most votes from the state, and each of the remaining votes goes to the candidate who got the most votes in each congressional district.