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The Decider: Understanding the Electoral College
Kate Monohan
Issue date: 11/3/08 Section: Election Special
There is "no way" that Sen. John McCain will win the popular vote in this election, said Jeffrey Ladewig, assistant professor of political science. But does he need to do so in order to win the election? The answer is no. The Electoral College will be deciding the presidential election when they meet in early January.
How did this voting system even come about? According to Ladewig, the Connecticut Compromise placed the Electoral College into the Constitution to give small states equal power to the more largely populated ones - a part of what he called America's "unique political history."
Each state automatically gets two electoral votes because of the state's two senators. The remainder of the 438 electoral votes are split up according to population - in other words, the number of members of House of Representatives each state has is the number of electoral votes it gets plus two. Three of the 438 electoral votes are given Washington, D.C. In total, there are 538 electoral votes and to win, 270 or more votes are needed by a candidate.
Connecticut has seven electoral votes: two senators, and five members of House of Representatives, which are allotted based on population size. Populations for states are determined every 10 years through a census, the last of which was in 2000. Connecticut might lose an electoral vote after the next census since the state's population hasn't increased in proportion to the other 49 states, Ladewig said.
"Electors" are a group of people nominated by the parties in each state, according to the official U.S. Electoral College Web site. By law, electors can't be a senator or member of the House of Representatives.
Both the Democratic and Republican parties pre-select a group of people to be electors, and the party that wins in the state sends their electors to Washington, D.C., to vote for the president. For example, if a Republican candidate wins the most popular votes in a state, or the "plurality," the electors for that state are the ones that the Republican candidate has pre-chosen.
How did this voting system even come about? According to Ladewig, the Connecticut Compromise placed the Electoral College into the Constitution to give small states equal power to the more largely populated ones - a part of what he called America's "unique political history."
Each state automatically gets two electoral votes because of the state's two senators. The remainder of the 438 electoral votes are split up according to population - in other words, the number of members of House of Representatives each state has is the number of electoral votes it gets plus two. Three of the 438 electoral votes are given Washington, D.C. In total, there are 538 electoral votes and to win, 270 or more votes are needed by a candidate.
Connecticut has seven electoral votes: two senators, and five members of House of Representatives, which are allotted based on population size. Populations for states are determined every 10 years through a census, the last of which was in 2000. Connecticut might lose an electoral vote after the next census since the state's population hasn't increased in proportion to the other 49 states, Ladewig said.
"Electors" are a group of people nominated by the parties in each state, according to the official U.S. Electoral College Web site. By law, electors can't be a senator or member of the House of Representatives.
Both the Democratic and Republican parties pre-select a group of people to be electors, and the party that wins in the state sends their electors to Washington, D.C., to vote for the president. For example, if a Republican candidate wins the most popular votes in a state, or the "plurality," the electors for that state are the ones that the Republican candidate has pre-chosen.
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Quinn
posted 11/03/08 @ 2:29 PM EST
So, if the write in vote is overwhelming for another candidate, is it worthless and the electoral will only vote in one of the two main parties?
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