NewsChannel2000.com - So Just What Is The Electoral College?

So Just What Is The Electoral College?

Remember The Electoral College From Social Studies? Here's A Refresher


	ELECTORAL COLLEGE What it is Who it is Origin Makeup The math Their duty The ritual How it usually works How it's changed PLOT TWISTS This year could be different If there's a tie Congress' role The line of succession Guess who announces winner? MORE Survey: Outdated? Forum: Abolish? National Archives Guide To Electoral College Procedures Tightest races in history Florida's potential electors Bush electors certified by Florida

As you may recall from social studies, when millions of Americans voted in the presidential election Tuesday, they were not actually voting for a candidate -- directly. The votes that count are the 270 cast by the members of the little-understood Electoral College.

It may have bored you back then -- and it's often viewed as an oddity -- but the low-profile ritual of the Electoral College is suddenly critically important. Because the race between George W. Bush and Al Gore is so close, the official voters of the Electoral College could conceivably pick a president that's not the same one chosen by a majority of the people.

Reason enough for a refresher course:

What it is: A group of representatives chosen by the voters of each state to elect the president and vice president. When Americans vote in a presidential election, they are technically picking representatives pledged to the candidates, not voting directly for the candidates themselves.

Who they are: Representatives are usually chosen by state committees or party conventions.

What they do: The electors meet on a day in December, often in their state capitals, and by custom or law vote for their party's choice for president and vice president.

How it's made up: Each state has as many votes in the Electoral College as the total of its senators and representatives in Congress.

How it works: In most cases, the candidate who wins the highest number of popular votes in a state gets all of that state's electoral votes.

By the numbers: A candidate needs 270 electoral votes out of 538 to win the presidency. Big states: California, 54 electoral votes; New York, 33; Texas, 32; Florida, 25; Pennsylvania, 23; Ohio, 21; Illinois, 22; Michigan, 18.

How it's changed: Before the emergence of two political parties, the candidate who came second in the electoral vote became vice president. Among other changes: the 23rd Amendment, ratified in 1961, enfranchised the District of Columbia, which has three electoral votes.

How it started: The process was chosen at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. The convention rejected the idea that Congress elect the president, on the grounds that he would be under the legislature's control, and rejected a proposal that citizens elect the president directly.

The ritual: In January, at a joint session in the House of Representatives, the president of the Senate opens the sealed certificates and one Democrat and one Republican from each house count the votes. The candidate getting a majority is declared elected.

The quirk: It is possible for a candidate to win the most electoral votes and become president even while losing the popular vote nationally. In 1824, 1876 and 1888, the winner of the popular vote lost the election.

What if there's a tie? In the event no candidate obtains a majority of electoral votes for president, the U.S. House of Representatives selects the president from among the top three contenders, with each state casting only one vote. One candidate must obtain a majority of votes to be elected. Similarly, if no one obtains an absolute majority for vice president, the U.S. Senate makes the selection from among the top two contenders for that office.

Sources: World Book, Federal Election Commission.

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