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What is the Electoral College?

The Electoral College is a group of 538 citizens who meet after a presidential election to actually "elect" the president and vice-president. Each state chooses a number of electors that is equal to the combined number of senators and representatives from that state. District of Columbia has three.

When voters choose a presidential ticket, they are actually voting for electors pledged to this ticket. In 48 of the 50 states, whichever candidate gets the most votes wins all of that state’s electors. Only Maine and Nebraska do not use this "winner-take-all" system, but award electors based on who wins in each congressional district, plus two votes for the winner of the popular vote.

To be elected to the presidency, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of the electoral votes (270). If there were more than two candidates, and no candidate received a majority, then the House of Representatives would pick the winner, with each state casting one vote. This happened in 1800 and 1824.

Why do we have an Electoral College?

The Electoral College was created by our founding fathers when writing the U.S. Constitution, as a way to keep "popular passions" from steering our government in the wrong direction. It was a way to monitor a possibly uneducated and uninformed electorate, and in the beginning it had considerable power to make a choice which did not reflect the popular vote. Today its sole function is to confirm the decision made by the voters.

Should the system be changed?

It would take a constitutional amendment to change this system, although each state could change their own laws governing how they choose electors. In the 1970’s, Congress debated a proposal to eliminate the Electoral College, but it was defeated in the Senate. Other suggestions are to keep the Electoral College, but eliminate the "winner-take-all" rule and use the congressional district winner system, or assign electors to the candidates based on the percentage of the popular vote received in each state.

It rarely happens, but there’s nothing to prevent electors from defecting from the candidate to whom they are pledged. In 2000, an elector abstained from voting. If such actions were to keep a candidate from receiving 270 votes, the election would be thrown to the House of Representatives.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Electoral College?

PRO

· It fosters the two-party system because independent and third party candidates get few electoral votes. Minority parties might contribute to political instability or deadlock.
· By voting for each state’s choice for the presidency, it reflects our federal system of government, which reserves important political powers to the states.

CON

· It is possible that someone could be elected president without receiving more popular votes than any other candidate. This happened twice in the nineteenth century, and again in 2000.
· It might discourage voter turnout if a voter feels his choice will not win the popular vote in his state.

*The source for the electoral college information is: League of Women Voters Education Fund. Choosing the President 2004: A Citizen’s Guide to the Electoral Process. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.



Copyright 2006, The League of Women Voters of Texas.
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