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How the
Electoral College Works Today
The system of the
Electoral College was established in Article II, section I, of the
U.S. Constitution. It was modified mainly by the 12th
Amendment which clarified the
process.
When U.S. citizens vote
for President and Vice President every election year, they are
actually electing a set of individual "Electors" to represent their
state. The Electors from every state combine to form the Electoral
College.
Each state is given a set number of Electors,
determined by the number of the its U.S. Senators (which is always
2) plus the number of its U.S. Representatives. The number of
Representatives in each state correlates with the state population
and is amended every decade when the Census is taken.
Each political party
with a candidate on the ballot designates their own set of Electors
for each state, matching the number of Electors they appoint with
the number of Electoral votes allotted to the state. U.S. Senators
and Representatives are not allowed to serve as Electors.
Electors are
typically strong supporters of the political party, but only 26 states require Electors
to vote with the party they are pledged to.
On election day,
ballots show the names of the Presidential and Vice Presidential
candidates, though voters are really selecting which set of Electors
they would like to represent their state.
The party that wins the most votes in each
state appoints all of
the Electors for that state. This is known as a winner-take-all allocation of
Electors. The only exceptions to this are in Maine and
Nebraska
.
The Electors for each state
cast their votes in mid-December. The votes are sealed and sent
to the President of the Senate. Though the public votes for the party
as a whole, the Electors cast individual votes for President and
Vice President. This has become important in several elections where Electors
voted for candidates other than those they were pledged to.
On January 6, the President of
the U.S. Senate opens all of the sealed envelopes containing the Electoral votes
and reads them aloud. To be elected as President or Vice President,
a candidate must have an absolute majority of the Electoral votes
for that position.
A majority is not
guaranteed within the Electoral College. An election with no Electoral
College majority could occur in two ways; if two candidates tie with
269 votes each or if three or more candidates receive Electoral
votes.
If no Presidential candidate obtains a majority
of the Electoral votes, the decision is deferred to the U.S. House
of
Representatives. The House then selects the President, choosing between
the top three candidates.
Each state
receives only one vote and an absolute majority of the states (26)
is required to elect the President. In this situation, Washington,
DC would lose the voting power given to it by the 23rd Amendment (since it does not have the
Congressional representation given to the states).
A majority winner is
not guaranteed in the House. The states could split their votes
equally between 2 candidates (25 state votes each) or the votes
could be split between three candidates in such a way that no
candidate receives a majority.
Also, since
every state only gets one vote, the Representatives from each state
must come to a decision on which candidate to support. A state
with an equal number of Representatives supporting the competing
parties would not be able to cast its vote unless one Representative
agreed to vote for the opposing side.
If a majority is not
reached within the House by January 20 (the day the President and
Vice President are sworn in), the Vice President serves as President
until the House is able to make a decision.
If the Vice President
has not been elected either, the Speaker of the House serves as
acting President until the House is able to make a decision.
If no Vice Presidential candidate obtains a majority of Electoral votes,
the decision is deferred to the U.S. Senate.
The Senate would then
elect the Vice President, choosing between the two candidates
receiving the highest number of Electoral votes for that office.
Every U.S. Senator
is allotted one vote and an absolute majority of the votes (51) is
required to elect the Vice President.
Again, the Senate
could be split evenly between the top two candidates, giving each
candidate 50 votes.
If no Vice
Presidential candidate receives 51 Senatorial votes by January 20,
the President appoints the Vice President, pending approval by
Congress. |
