THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

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THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
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Two Alternatives considered by the Framers

• Indirectly
• Through Congress , State Legislatures, or some
  other group
• Directly
• By majority vote of the people

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Through Congress

• Disadvantages
• State legislatures might use their power to upset
  the balance of power between the national and
  state governments
• Congress might use their power to upset the
  balance of power between executive and
  legislative branches

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Directly through popular vote

• Disadvantages
• The people could not be personally familiar with
  the candidates and their qualifications
• Mob rule
• Ignorance of the masses
• More advantage to states with larger populations
  - candidates would ignore the smaller states

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The Clever Compromise ?

• THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

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Original Provisions of the Electoral College

• Each state selects Electors (members of the
  Electoral College)
• of Electors per state of Senators and
  Representatives in Congress from that state
• Method of how states choose electors determined
  by the State Legislatures

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Original Provisions of the Electoral College

• Each elector casts two votes (intended to be one
  for President and one for Vice President)
• The candidate with the highest of votes , if a
  majority, becomes President
• The candidate with the second highest of votes
  becomes Vice President

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Original Provisions of the Electoral College

• In the case of a tie OR if no one candidate
  received a majority of electoral votes (51) the
  House of Representatives would select the
  President from the top three candidates by
  majority vote with each state having only one
  vote
• What is the difference between a majority and a
  plurality ?

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Original Intentions

• Electors would be the most enlightened and
  respectable citizens from each state
• They were to be free agents in choosing the
  people best qualified to fill the nations' two
  highest offices
• Didnt expect too many Presidents to get the
  required majority electoral votes needed

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Electoral College

• Flaws in the System

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Election of 1796

• Washington declines a third term
• Political Parties had formed
• John Adams Federalist
• Thomas Jefferson Democratic-Republican
• John Adams got the most electoral votes
  President
• Thomas Jefferson got the second most electoral
  votes Vice President

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Election of 1800

• Party Nominations for President and Vice
  President
• Candidates for the Electoral College pledged to
  vote for their Partys Presidential ticket
• The automatic casting of electoral votes in line
  with those pledges
• New Problem President and Vice President
  receive same number of votes
• Jefferson , Burr tie House of Representative
  decide

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12th Amendment

• Separated the presidential and vice presidential
  elections
• "The electors shall name in their ballots the
  person voted for as President, and in distinct
  ballots the person voted for as Vice President."

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Related Documents

• U.S. Constitution
• Article 2 Section 1,2,3,4
• 12th Amendment
• Federalist 68 (Alexander Hamilton Publius)
  http//www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed68.ht
  m

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The Electoral College Today

• Electors as rubber stamps of the popular vote
  results in each state
• Winner Take All System
• The Presidential ticket receiving the largest
  popular vote in the state wins all of that states
  electoral votes
• Usually only the names of the Presidential and
  Vice Presidential candidates are listed on the
  ballot
• used in all states but two
• Maine and Nebraska use the district plan

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Present Day Election Timeline

• Popular Election
• First Tuesday in November (winner of the election
  usually known by midnight)
• Electoral College votes cast in States
• Monday after the second Wednesday in December
• Electoral College votes counted in WADC
• January 6

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If no candidate wins a majority of electoral
votes (270 out of 538 today) then the election is
thrown to the House of Representatives.

• 1800
• 1824

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THREE MAJOR FLAWS IN THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

• 1.The winner of the popular vote is not
  guaranteed the presidency
• 2.Electors are not required to vote in accord
  with the popular vote
• 3.Any election might have to be decided in the
  House of Representatives

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FLAW 1

• The winner of the popular vote can lose the
  Electoral vote
• Two contributing factors
• Winner take all feature of the electoral college
  system
• The way the electoral votes are distributed among
  the states

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Minority Presidents

• FOUR TIMES IN HISTORY POPULAR VOTE WINNERS LOST
  THE ELECTION
• 1824 - JQ Adams
• 1876 - R. B. Hayes
• 1888 - Benjamin Harrison
• 2000 - George W. Bush

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• Eleven times in history the Electoral College
  winner only won a plurality of the popular vote
• Polk(1844),Taylor (1848),Buchanan (1856),Lincoln
  (1860),Garfield (1880), Cleveland (1884, 1892),
  Wilson (1912, 1916), Truman (1948), JFK (1960),
  Nixon (1968), Clinton (1992,1996)

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Main Point of Flaw 1

• The winner take all factor produces an electoral
  vote that at best reflects a distorted popular
  vote.

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FLAW 2

• Electors are not required to vote in accord with
  the popular vote
• Faithless electors possible.
• In no case has the vote of a faithless elector
  effected the outcome of a presidential election
  but the potential is there

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FLAW 3 Any election might have to be decided in
the House of Representatives

• A state with a small population would have as
  much weight as the most populous state
• If the representatives of a state were so divided
  that no candidate was favored by a majority the
  state loses its vote completely
• A strong 3rd Party would make it difficult to get
  the majority needed to select a winner and could
  cause a deadlock

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Proposed Reforms

• The District Plan
• The Proportional Plan
• Direct Popular Election Plan
• The National Bonus Plan