The Electoral College is a method of indirect popular election
of the President of the United States. The authors of the Constitution
put this system in place so that careful and calm deliberation would
lead to the selection of the best-qualified candidate. Voters in
each state actually cast a vote for a block of electors who
are pledged to vote for a particular candidate. These
electors, in turn,
vote for the presidential candidate. The number of electors
for each
state equals its Congressional representation.
After Election Day, on the first Monday after
the second Wednesday in December, these electors assemble in their state
capitals, cast their ballots, and officially select the next President
of the United States. Legally, the electors may vote for someone other
than the candidate for whom they were pledged to vote. This phenomenon
is known as the "unfaithful" or "faithless" elector.
Generally, this does not happen. Therefore, the candidate who receives
the most votes in a state at the general election will be the candidate
for whom the electors later cast their votes. The candidate who wins
in a state is awarded all of that state’s Electoral College votes. Maine
and Nebraska are exceptions to this winner-take-all rule.
The votes of the electors are then sent to Congress
where the President of the Senate opens the certificates, and counts
the votes. This takes place on January 6, unless that date falls on
a Sunday. In that case, the votes are counted on the next day. An absolute
majority is necessary to prevail in the presidential and the vice presidential
elections, that is, half the total plus one electoral votes are required.
With 538 Electors, a candidate must receive at least 270 votes to be
elected to the office of President or Vice President.
Should
no presidential candidate receive an absolute majority, the House of
Representatives determines who the next president will be. Each state
may cast one vote and an absolute majority is needed to win. Similarly,
the Senate decides who the next Vice President will be if there is no
absolute majority after the Electoral College vote. Elections have been
decided by Congress in the past. The House of Representatives elected
Thomas Jefferson president in the election of 1800 when the Electoral
College vote resulted in a tie. When the Electoral College vote was
so split that none of the candidates received an absolute majority in
the election of 1824 the House elected John Quincy Adams President.
Richard Johnson was elected Vice President by the Senate when he failed
to receive an absolute majority of electoral votes in the election of
1836.
The President-elect and Vice President-elect take
the oath of office and are inaugurated two weeks later, on January 20th.
