This encourages candidates there to court a wide variety of such minorities and advocacy groups. The resolution would go to each of the states, and once 38 of their legislatures indicate their approval, the Constitution would be considered to have been amended. With this system, the pair of candidates (running for president and vice-president) who had received the highest number of votes would win the presidency and vice presidency provided they won at least 40% of the national popular vote. Before the advent of the "short ballot" in the early 20th century (as described in Selection process) the most common means of electing the presidential electors was through the general ticket. Advocates of the current system argue that human electors would be in a better position to choose a suitable replacement than the general voting public: according to this view, electors could act decisively during the critical time interval between when ballot choices become fixed in state ballots[199] until mid-December when the electors formally cast their ballots.[200]. In 1865, Congress asserted "total power over the electoral vote" with the adoption of the Twenty-second Joint Rule. In contemporary practice, each presidential-vice presidential ticket has an associated slate of potential electors. [8], According to this criticism, the Electoral College encourages political campaigners to focus on a few so-called swing states while ignoring the rest of the country. "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.". The electors certify the certificates of vote, and copies of the certificates are then sent in the following fashion:[108], A staff member of the President of the Senate collects the certificates of vote as they arrive and prepares them for the joint session of the Congress. [208] The presidential election of 1968 resulted in Richard Nixon receiving 301 electoral votes (56% of electors), Hubert Humphrey 191 (35.5%), and George Wallace 46 (8.5%) with 13.5% of the popular vote. The district plan was carried out by some states until 1892. [60], At the Constitutional Convention, the College composition in theory amounted to 49 votes for northern states (in the process of abolishing slavery) and 42 for slave-holding states (including Delaware). Here are the states we identified as the most competitive in our Election Forecast — and who won their electoral votes. In the last election, the result could have been changed by a small shift of votes in Ohio and Hawaii, despite a popular vote difference of 1.7 million. Others have suggested that the compact's legality was strengthened by Chiafalo v. Washington, in which the Supreme Court upheld the power of states to enforce electors' pledges. The district plan would have awarded him 11 of its 21 electoral votes, a 52.4% which was much closer to the popular vote percentage. However, commentators point out that the national popular vote observed under the Electoral College system may not reflect the popular vote observed under a National Popular Vote system, as each electoral institution produces different incentives for, and strategy choices by, presidential campaigns. [144] Advocates of the method believe the system encourages higher voter turnout or incentivizes candidates, to visit and appeal to some states deemed safe, overall, for one party. Had the recount continued, the Florida legislature was prepared to appoint the Republican slate of electors to avoid missing the federal safe-harbor deadline for choosing electors. What president was in office for the shortest time? [174][better source needed] In addition, it is already possible to win the required 270 electoral votes by winning only the 11 most populous states; what currently prevents such a result is the organic political diversity between those states (three reliably Republican states, four swing states, and four reliably Democratic states), not any inherent quality of the Electoral College itself.[175]. The three-fifths slave-count rule is associated with three or four outcomes, 1792–1860: The first "Jeffersonian" and "Jacksonian" victories were of great importance as they ushered in sustained party majorities of several Congresses and presidential party eras. [207], The closest the United States has come to abolishing the Electoral College occurred during the 91st Congress (1969–1971). According to Hamilton, the selection of the president should be "made by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station [of president]. In the 2020 presidential election, the total number of electoral votes was 538, ... use a winner-takes-all arrangement in which the candidate with the most votes in that state receives all of the state's electoral votes, there is a clear incentive to focus almost exclusively on only a few key undecided states; in recent elections, these states have included Pennsylvania, Ohio, and … However, Federalist#68, insofar as it reflects the intent of the founders, states that Electors will be "selected by their fellow-citizens from the general mass," and with regard to choosing Electors, "they [the framers] have referred it in the first instance to an immediate act of the people of America." ", In 1887, Congress passed the Electoral Count Act, now codified in Title 3, Chapter 1 of the United States Code, establishing specific procedures for the counting of the electoral votes. When citizens cast their votes for president and vice president, they are, in actuality, voting for electors, who, in turn, make the final selection as part of a body called the Electoral College. [231][232] Those joining the compact will, acting together if and when reflecting a majority of electors (at least 270), pledge their electors to the winner of the national popular vote. The law was passed in response to the disputed 1876 presidential election, in which several states submitted competing slates of electors. When is the presidential election? A candidate needs 270 of them for a clear win. Total: 538. In a direct national election system, any state that gave women the vote would automatically have doubled its national clout. In that instance, the Senate adopted an alphabetical roll call and voting aloud. Thus without corrupting the body of the people, the immediate agents in the election will at least enter upon the task free from any sinister bias [Electors must not come to the Electoral College with bias]. The Virginia Plan called for Congress to elect the president. In other words, the number of electoral votes Maryland has depends on how many Representatives Maryland has in Washington, D.C. There are 7 states, along with DC, that have 3 electoral votes, which is … The race for the White House all comes down to 270 Electoral College votes. "[46] Jefferson explained to Madison's correspondent why he was doubtful of the amendment being ratified: "the states are now so numerous that I despair of ever seeing another amendment of the constitution." [182], U.S. territories are not entitled to electors in presidential elections. They argue that the two party system has provided stability because it encourages a delayed adjustment during times of rapid political and cultural change. [76] In 1824, Andrew Jackson, a slaveholder from Tennessee, was similarly defeated by John Quincy Adams, a strong critic of slavery.[76]. Back in 2016, Donald Trump won with 304 electoral votes, despite … The Senate in 1975 reduced the required vote for cloture from two-thirds of those voting (67 votes) to three-fifths (60 votes). [46] For example, in Massachusetts in 1820, the rule stated "the people shall vote by ballot, on which shall be designated who is voted for as an Elector for the district. Regarding Section 2, he said:[77], The second section I consider the most important in the article. New York: Penguin, 2004. p. 514. There are 538 total electors, including one for each U.S. senator and representative and three electors representing the District of Columbia, and presidential candidates need a … Federal law (2 U.S.C. On the 36th ballot, Delaware's lone Representative, James A. Bayard, made it known that he intended to break the impasse for fear that failure to do so could endanger the future of the Union. Countervailing analyses which do take into consideration the sizes of the electoral voting blocs, such as the Banzhaf power index (BPI) model based on probability theory lead to very different conclusions about voters' relative power. Based on its population per electoral vote, D.C. has the second highest per capita Electoral College representation, after Wyoming.[92]. Section 3 of the Twentieth Amendment specifies that if the House of Representatives has not chosen a president-elect in time for the inauguration (noon EST on January 20), then the vice president-elect becomes acting president until the House selects a president. Critics argue that the Electoral College is less democratic than a national direct popular vote and is subject to manipulation because of faithless electors;[6][7] that the system is antithetical to a democracy that strives for a standard of "one person, one vote";[3] and there can be elections where one candidate wins the national popular vote but another wins the electoral vote, as in the 2000 and 2016 elections. The tellers count the ballots and announce the result. Here's a guide to how many votes each state gets this year to decide the presidency. [clarification needed] In 1968, John F. Banzhaf III (who developed the Banzhaf power index) determined that a voter in the state of New York had, on average, 3.312 times as much voting power in presidential elections as a voter in any other U.S. More empirically based models of voting yield results that seem to favor larger states less. According to this view, if elections were by popular vote, then states would be motivated to include more citizens in elections since the state would then have more political clout nationally. Each house appoints two tellers to count the vote (normally one member of each political party). It fixes the basis of representation in Congress. [111] Thirty-three states plus the District of Columbia have laws against faithless electors,[112] which were first enforced after the 2016 election, where ten electors voted or attempted to vote contrary to their pledges. As of July 2020, fifteen states plus the District of Columbia have joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. The Certificates of Ascertainment are mandated to carry the state seal and the signature of the governor (or mayor of D.C.). [27], The Convention approved the Committee's Electoral College proposal, with minor modifications, on September 6, 1787. [16][17][18] The additional three electors come from the Twenty-third Amendment, ratified in 1961, providing that the district established pursuant to Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 as the seat of the federal government (namely, Washington, D.C.) is entitled to the same number of electors as the least populous state. [32] Hamilton explained that the election was to take place among all the states, so no corruption in any state could taint "the great body of the people" in their selection. Every 10 years, the results of the Census determine how seats in the House of Representatives are apportioned, and states may gain or lose electoral votes accordingly. There are currently 538 electors, and an absolute majority of electoral votes, 270 or more, is required to win the election. He also used the term "deliberate." HOW DOES THE SESSION UNFOLD? [196], In his book A More Perfect Constitution, Professor Larry Sabato elaborated on this advantage of the Electoral College, arguing to "mend it, don't end it," in part because of its usefulness in forcing candidates to pay attention to lightly populated states and reinforcing the role of states in federalism. To understand why those apparently random numbers apply, it’s necessary to … Because the least populous state (Wyoming, according to the 2010 census) has three electors, D.C. cannot have more than three electors. Under the Electoral Count Act (updated and codified in 3 U.S.C. "Representation of the Antebellum South in the House of Representatives: Measuring the Impact of the Three-Fifths Clause" in David W. Brady and Mathew D. McCubbins, eds., Party, Process and Political Change in Congress: New Perspectives on the History of Congress (2002), Stanford University Press, Brian D. Humes, Elaine K. Swift, Richard M. Valley, Kenneth Finegold, and Evelyn C. Fink, "Representation of the Antebellum South in the House of Representatives: Measuring the Impact of the Three-Fifths Clause", Chapter 15 in David W. Brady and Mathew D. McCubbins, eds., Party, Process and Political Change in Congress: New Perspectives on the History of Congress (2002), Stanford University Press, The selected papers of Thaddeus Stevens, v. 2, Stevens, Thaddeus, 1792–1868, Palmer, Beverly Wilson, 1936, Ochoa, Holly Byers, 1951, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, Digital Research Library, 2011, pp. Popular vote vs. In 1824, when there were six states in which electors were legislatively appointed, rather than popularly elected, the true national popular vote is uncertain. Critics contend that such disenfranchisement is partially obscured by the Electoral College. [84] If there is a tie, or if no candidate for either or both offices receives an absolute majority, then choice falls to Congress in a procedure known as a contingent election. Having already lost the presidential contest, Federalist Party representatives in the lame duck House session seized upon the opportunity to embarrass their opposition by attempting to elect Burr over Jefferson. [209], Representative Emanuel Celler (D–New York), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, responded to public concerns over the disparity between the popular vote and electoral vote by introducing House Joint Resolution 681, a proposed Constitutional amendment that would have replaced the Electoral College with a simpler plurality system based on the national popular vote. [87] Many states require an elector to vote for the candidate to which the elector is pledged, and most electors do regardless, but some "faithless electors" have voted for other candidates or refrained from voting. Congressional Quarterly, Inc. 1997, Brian D. Humes, Elaine K. Swift, Richard M. Valley, Kenneth Finegold, and Evelyn C. Fink, "Representation of the Antebellum South in the House of Representatives: Measuring the Impact of the Three-Fifths Clause" in David W. Brady and Mathew D. McCubbins, eds., Party, Process and Political Change in Congress: New Perspectives on the History of Congress (2002), Stanford University Press. [19] In practice, that results in Washington D.C. being entitled to 3 electors. Some state leaders began to adopt the strategy that the favorite partisan presidential candidate among the people in their state would have a much better chance if all of the electors selected by their state were sure to vote the same way—a "general ticket" of electors pledged to a party candidate. The Electoral College consists of 538 electors, and an absolute majority of at least 270 electoral votes is required to win the election.According to Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution, each state legislature determines the manner by which its state's electors are chosen. Under the US constitution only full-fledged States of the Union have votes in the electoral college for purposes of US presidential elections. There are currently 538 electors, and an absolute majority of electoral votes, 270 or more, is required to win the election. Published Agreeably to Resolve of 16th January, 1812. In the election of 1872, defeated Liberal Republican candidate Horace Greeley died during this time interval, which resulted in disarray for the Democratic Party, who also supported Greeley, but 63 of the 66 the Greeley electors split their votes for four alternate candidates. [58] Currently, Maine (since 1972) and Nebraska (since 1996) use the district plan, with two at-large electors assigned to support the winner of the statewide popular vote. [210], On April 29, 1969, the House Judiciary Committee voted 28 to 6 to approve the proposal. [94] Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, any person who has sworn an oath to support the United States Constitution in order to hold either a state or federal office, and later rebelled against the United States directly or by giving assistance to those doing so, is disqualified from being an elector. "[45] Hamilton stated that the electors were to analyze the list of potential presidents and select the best one. Of the current 538 electors, an absolute majority of 270 or more electoral votes is required to elect the president and vice president. Trump and Biden were locked in a tight contest Thursday to secure the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. Furthermore, the original intention of the framers was that the Electors would not feel bound to support any particular candidate, but would vote their conscience, free of external pressure. Congress Counts Electoral Votes Jan. 6: Here's How It Works Many Republicans have indicated they will object to the formal electoral vote count. Varying by state, electors may also be elected by state legislatures or appointed by the parties themselves.[93]. Trending. In Chiafalo v. Washington, 591 U.S. ___ (2020), and a related case, the Court held that electors must vote in accord with their state's laws. Note: the day when the electors cast their votes is the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. Legal scholars Akhil Amar and Vikram Amar have argued that the original Electoral College compromise was enacted partially because it enabled Southern states to disenfranchise their slave populations. Individual votes can also be rejected, and are also not counted. The seats that the South gained from such "slave bonus" were quite evenly distributed between the parties. In 2016 polling, the gap closed to 51% direct election versus 44% electoral college. [206], Since 1800, over 700 proposals to reform or eliminate the system have been introduced in Congress. [171] The true national popular vote was also uncertain in the 1960 election, and the plurality for the winner depends on how votes for Alabama electors are allocated.[172]. [4] Critics object to the inequity that due to the distribution of electors, individual citizens in states with smaller populations have proportionately more voting power than those in larger states. When the time for balloting arrives, the electors choose one or two people to act as tellers. The Office of the Federal Register is charged with administering the Electoral College.[82]. [103] One certificate is sent, as soon after Election Day as practicable, to the National Archivist in Washington. Arguments against the Electoral College in common discussion focus mostly on the allocation of the voting power among the states. Under the original plan, each elector cast two votes for president; electors did not vote for vice president. For example, if a particular state blocks some groups from voting, perhaps by voter suppression methods such as imposing reading tests, poll taxes, registration requirements, or legally disfranchising specific minority groups, then voting inside that state would be reduced, but as the state's electoral count would be the same, disenfranchisement has no effect on the overall electoral tally. Even if D.C. were a state, its population would entitle it to only three electors. [11] The results are sent to and counted by the Congress, where they are tabulated in the first week of January before a joint meeting of the Senate and the House of Representatives, presided over by the current vice president, as president of the Senate. president. Alexander Hamilton. Electoral College – For State Officials", "Congress meets to count electoral votes", "Electors seldom go rogue in casting a state's votes for president", "The one election where Faithless Electors made a difference", "Q&A: Electors almost always follow the vote in their state", "Supreme Court rules 'faithless electors' can't go rogue at Electoral College", "Opinion analysis: Court upholds 'faithless elector' laws", "How Are Electors Selected For The Electoral College? Just so, how many electoral votes does each state have? Top Searches Holiday Gifts. The rules further stated, "[I]f a majority of the number of senators shall vote for either the said Richard M. Johnson or Francis Granger, he shall be declared by the presiding officer of the Senate constitutionally elected Vice President of the United States"; the Senate chose Johnson.[130]. It's Up to Us to End It", "Electoral College bias and the 2020 presidential election". [179] Since most states use a winner-takes-all arrangement in which the candidate with the most votes in that state receives all of the state's electoral votes, there is a clear incentive to focus almost exclusively on only a few key undecided states; in recent elections, these states have included Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida in 2004 and 2008, and included Colorado in 2012. STUDY GUIDE. On May 8, 1866, during a debate on the Fourteenth Amendment, Thaddeus Stevens, the leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, delivered a speech on the amendment's intent. After a popular election, the states identify and record their appointed electors in a Certificate of Ascertainment, those appointed electors then meet in their respective jurisdictions and produce a Certificate of Vote, for their candidate; both certificates are then sent to congress to be opened and votes counted. In the United States, the president and vice president are elected by the Electoral College rather than the popular vote of the people—and, as of 2020, there are a total of 538 electoral votes. Following the 1790 census, the most populous state in the 1790 Census was Virginia, with 39.1% slaves, or 292,315 counted three-fifths, to yield a calculated number of 175,389 for congressional apportionment. $39.99. In order for a presidential candidate to take an election and make the White House their residence for the next four years, they need to secure 270 of these electoral votes. Just so, how many electoral votes does each state have? Meet the moderator of the final Trump-Biden debate, More than a fifth of Georgia voters have cast their ballot with two weeks to go until Election Day, Early voting already shatters records in Georgia with 2 weeks left, A constitutional amendment proposed by either house of Congress and passed by a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate would then have to be. On September 8, 1970, the Senate commenced openly debating the proposal,[219] and the proposal was quickly filibustered. To win the presidency, a candidate must receive one vote more than half of the Electoral Votes available -- or 270. [236] Lawsuits have been filed to this end in California, Massachusetts, Texas and South Carolina, though all have been unsuccessful. In 1824, there were six states in which electors were still legislatively appointed. I know they need 270 to win...what is the grand total of electoral votes to be had? Bayard and other Federalists from South Carolina, Maryland, and Vermont abstained, breaking the deadlock and giving Jefferson a majority.[44]. However, appointment by state legislature can have negative consequences: bicameral legislatures can deadlock more easily than the electorate. Each state gets a minimum of three electoral votes, regardless of population, which gives low-population states a disproportionate number of electors per capita. To win the presidency, a candidate must receive one vote more than half of the Electoral Votes available -- or 270. [160][161] The plan later lost support. [193] Because Banzhaf's method ignores the demographic makeup of the states, it has been criticized for treating votes like independent coin-flips. Beginning in 1804 there was a definite trend towards the winner-take-all system for statewide popular vote. Practicable, to the federal nature of the meeting is opened by the votes! 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