Table of Contents
What determines the Electoral College vote?
Under the “Electoral College” system, each state is assigned a certain number of “votes”. The formula for determining the number of votes for each state is simple: each state gets two votes for its two US Senators, and then one more additional vote for each member it has in the House of Representatives.
How did the government determine how many electoral votes each state would receive?
Electoral votes are allocated among the States based on the Census. Every State is allocated a number of votes equal to the number of senators and representatives in its U.S. Congressional delegation—two votes for its senators in the U.S. Senate plus a number of votes equal to the number of its Congressional districts.
What is the job of the Electoral College?
When citizens cast their ballots for president in the popular vote, they elect a slate of electors. Electors then cast the votes that decide who becomes president of the United States. Usually, electoral votes align with the popular vote in an election.
What is the Electoral College and why is it important?
The Electoral College requires the election of a president by majorities, but state-by-state. Two political wills are thus engaged — that of the citizenry of each state, and that of the fifty states acting together. As a “nation of states”, this is part of American federalism.
What happens if there is no majority in the Electoral College?
An election with no Electoral College majority could occur in two ways; if two candidates split the total of electoral votes evenly (with 538 electoral votes as of 2009, a tie would mean a split of 269-269) or if three or more candidates receive sufficient electoral votes to deny one candidate a majority.
Are smaller states misrepresented in the Electoral College?
However, smaller states are still not as misrepresented as larger states. While the electoral college is based on population, only a fraction of that population is eligible to vote — and even a smaller portion actually votes.
Why is the Electoral College considered undemocratic?
Citizens vote for president, with the winner in each state taking all the state’s electoral votes based on the number of seats that state has in the Senate and House combined. In this sense, the Electoral College is no more “undemocratic” than is the Senate or the Supreme Court.