U.S. Electoral College

The Electoral College is a group of people who meet to choose the President and Vice President of the United States. The Electoral College has existed in two forms since the establishment of the Constitution.

The Electoral College Generally

Generally, each state in the United States is granted a number of electors equal to the number of Representatives and Senators apportioned to the state. Since each state is granted at least one Representative and exactly two Senators, each state has at least three electoral votes. Larger states have more Representatives and hence have more electoral votes.

Original Electoral College

In the original Constitution, the Electoral College is detailed in Article 2. The states appointed their electors by whatever means they desired. Today, they are selected by election, but they can be selected by the legislature or executive.

On a day specified by Congress, the electors would meet within their state and cast two ballots for President. The only stipulations, aside from the qualifications for the office, were that at least one of the names had to be from a person not a citizen of the elector's state, and that the names on the ballots must be different. The votes would be collected and sent to the Congress.

The President of the Senate would open all votes in the presence of the members House of Representatives and Senate, and read all of the votes. The person with the highest number of votes, if the number be a majority of the electors, would be elected President. The person with the second-highest number of votes would be elected Vice President.

If two persons exceeded the half-way mark, and had an equal number of votes, the members of the House of Representatives, voting as states and not individuals, would choose between the two names. If no single name exceeded the half-way mark, the top five names would be placed before the House and the House would decide from those five; voting, again, as whole states.

If there was a tie for second place after the selection of the President, the Senate would choose between these names. Voting in the Senate would be as individuals, not as states.

Problems with the original scheme

Relatively quickly, problems with this electoral scheme emerged. In the election of 1796, political rivals John Adams and Thomas Jefferson came in first and second, respectively, in the Electoral College vote. Adams's running mate was Thomas Pinckney, who came in third in the vote; Jefferson's running mate was Aaron Burr, who came in fourth. Though this mixing of factions (what we call political parties today) was not seen as a problem by the Framers, friction between Adams and Jefferson led to many thinking the Electoral College should be changed.

In the next election, in 1800, things got worse: Adams and Pinckney were again on one ticket, and Jefferson and Burr on the other. This time, however, Jefferson and Burr both got an equal number of votes, throwing the election to the House. Though Jefferson was the intended Presidential candidate, Burr supporters and Adams supporters repeatedly voted to make Burr President, resulting in repeated votes that resulted in ties. Only back-room negotiating broke the stalemate.

The 12th Amendment was proposed shortly after the mess was settled.

Today's Electoral College

The 12th Amendment changed the process only slightly, but the change allowed the 1800 Jefferson/Burr mess to be avoided.

The 12th Amendment still dictates that electors cast two ballots, but now one ballot is specifically for President, and one specifically for Vice President. The other rules remained in effect: one of the names had to be from a state other than the elector's, for example.

The name with the majority of the votes for President is named President. If there is no majority in the ballots for President, the three highest vote-getters are voted on by the House, voting as states. The winner of that vote is President.

The name with the majority of the votes for Vice President is named Vice President. If there is no majority in the ballots for Vice President, the two highest vote-getters are voted on by the Senate, Senators voting as individuals. The winner of that vote is Vice President.

The 12th Amendment also closed one loophole in the process: the qualifications for Vice President were explicitly made the same as those for President.

In the first election following the ratification of the 12th Amendment, in 1804, Jefferson received 162 votes to 14 for Charles Pinckney for President; George Clinton received 162 votes to 14 for Rufus King.

Other changes in the Electoral College

In 1961, the 23rd Amendment was ratified. The 23rd grants Washington D.C. electoral votes as if it were a state, though it may not have more votes than the smallest state.

Quirks in the Electoral College

There are two major criticisms of the Electoral College today. One has to do with rates of representation, and the other with a minority president.

Small states, because of their equal representation in the Senate and minimum number of Representatives, can have a unequal representation in the Electoral College. Though the difference can be minuscule on a per capita basis, it can add up when you're looking at millions of persons.

For example, Wyoming is the smallest state in terms of population, with 493,782 persons as of the 2000 census, and three electoral votes. This gives each person in Wyoming 0.000006075 electoral votes per person (or 164,594 persons per electoral vote). California, by contrast, had 33,871,648 persons as of the 2000 census, and 55 electoral votes. This gives each person in California 0.000001623 electoral votes (or 615848.15 persons per electoral vote), about 26% less "vote power" than each person in Wyoming.

The result of this can lead to minority presidents. In 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000, presidential candidates with fewer popular votes lost the electoral vote. In several election years, most recently 1992, 1996, and 2000, the winner of the electoral vote did not win 50% of the popular vote.