What is Electoral College? How does is work?

Answer 1

I think its in San Diego No?

Answer 2

When the constitution was written a majority of the citizens could not read or write. Because of this they could be tricked at the polls when they voted etc. To protect the citizens from fraud they came up with the electoral college. Delegates are chosen to vote in the presidential race. Each state gets the same number of electoral votes as they have representatives in congress, i.e. whatever their house of representatives number is plus two for their senators. The electoral representatives are supposed to vote based on their states popular vote count. The President is elected by a majority of the electoral college votes. Actually a candidate can be elected by only winning eight states ( the ones with the most votes, called the great eight).

Answer 3

Well It doesn't. Not really anyway. But basically when the founding fathers first set up our system they decided that the general Amercian Public didn't have enough information the elect the president. And with communications the way they were at that time that was likly correct. Anyway They set up the electoral college and each state gets assigned a number of electors based on population. This is also supposed to prevent bigger states from being more important although I don't really believe that works. Anyway when A states votes come in then their electors all get assigned to vote for the same person. So technically it is the electorial college that picks the president. That is how we can have a president that loses the popular vote but is elected president.

Answer 4

Back when the US was established, the founding fathers were skeptical about a central govenment and tried to produce a system that would allow equal representation among the new "states." Each state was allotted electors whose responsibility it was to cast votes and therefore "elect" national office holders. The electoral college is comprised of representatives from each state and the District of Columbia. This number is equal to the number of US Senators (2) plus the number of Congressional Representatives (varies by state population).
When the popular vote is determined, the electors then meet (called the electoral college) and officially cast their vote based on the result of the popular vote in their state. The strangest thing about the process is that a candidate could win the popular vote and still loose the election based on the number of electors each state brings to the decision.

Answer 5

The Electoral College is the total of all the Senators and Representatives in Congress. 535. They are suppose to vote according to the popular vote in the district that the represent, but there is no law that says they have to. Some throw their votes behind whomever looks "better". The official vote does not occur on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, but some time after wards (I forget when).

Answer 6

Instead of voting directly for a presidential candidate (and his or her vice-presidential running mate), voters in the fifty states and the District of Columbia vote for a slate of "electors" who are pledged to vote for a particular presidential ticket (president/vice-president team). The political parties in each state select a slate of electors. The electors selected by the party of the candidate winning the most popular votes in a state become the electors for that state.

Instead of just tallying the total number of votes cast across the nation in presidential elections, votes are counted state-by-state. The winner of the popular vote in each state is awarded the electoral votes for that state. The candidate winning the majority of electoral votes wins.

Given this arrangement, it is possible to win the popular vote and lose the electoral vote. In fact, this has happened on three different occasions.

One additional feature of the process that worries people every time a viable third-party candidate runs for President is that when no candidate wins a majority of electoral votes, the election is decided by the House of Representatives. In such a case, the House delegations from each state would have one vote each. The candidate with the support of the most House delegations would be declared the winner. Thomas Jefferson was elected not by popular vote or by winning a majority of electoral votes--he was selected by the House of Representatives.

Answer 7

Each state gets a certain number of electorial votes based on the total senators and congressmen in that state (for example Idaho has four votes -2 senators and 2 congressmen). After a presidential election the electorial voters of each state cast their ballots. They usually vote according to how each state voted (total) to elect the president but there is no requirement that they do. Majority of votes cast for a particular person wins the election and becomes president.