Who elects the President into office?

Question

We had a quiz today in school (that didn't count for our grade, because we hadn't gone over the constitution yet), and this was one of the questions. It was multiple choice and I 50/50d my way to:

A. The people of the nation, or...
C. The electoral college.

So what is it! We were allowed to use our book copies of the constitution to answer this, but I still couldn't decide! Thanks if you can make me smarter with this bit of info :)

Answer 1

C.

Technically the answer could be argued for either, so if you picked A, and it's wrong, but can give a good argument, then you may get credit for it. A good argument would say "The people of the nation elect a president because it is their votes that make the decision on who the state casts a vote for. The people are a necessary part of the process of the way the electoral college is executed - de facto vs. de jure."

If the answer is A and you picked C, then I would argue the following. "The electoral college's electors actually are the only votes that matter when electing a president. The chosen elector for a state could choose to go against who his state votes for, therefore, the electoral college system is responsible for electing a president. de jure vs. de facto. "

Answer 2

The people of the nation vote. Now, electoral candidates are chosen from each region (usually 1 Dem and 1 Repub) If the Dems win the popular vote in that region then the Representative from the Democratic party will go to DC to vote for that Democrat. Now, the electoral college does the ultimate voting. Although, these representatives my out of their own free will decide to vote against the candidate chosen by the people. That is why the electoral college does the actually picking of the president.

There is also a reason why a candidate *cough* Gore *cough* can win the popular vote but not the electoral vote. Lets say in region A 100,000 people vote for the Democratic candidate and only 5,000 for the Republican. Region B 50,001 vote for the Republican and 50,000 for the Democrat and in Region C the results are the same as Region B. Therefore, the Republicans (granted the chosen Representatives for the Republicans vote for the Republican candidate in the electoral college) win 2 electoral votes and the Democrats 1 but the democrats have 200,000 popular votes and the Republicans only 105,000.

Answer 3

The Electoral College

Answer 4

Actually, the answer is C, and only C. The people do not elect the President, and this is why:

The United States is actually a federation of independent states. The leadership of the federal government is determined by congress of the states themselves (as were also the case for the Senate prior to the constitutional amendment changing it) and not necessarily the people of the states, since personal representation is already accounted for by the House of Representatives. The President is elected like this: each state is allocated a vote depending on the numbers of Representatives and Senators that state has in Congress. For each of these votes, the presidential candidate's political party nominates an elector for that vote who will cast the state's vote before the House of Representatives. The people actually picks the elector, and not the President himself. Depending on the rules of that state, if one's parties' electors is favor over the others, that parties' entire slate of electors are chosen to vote before the House of Representatives (some states allow split votes, however). When the Electoral College is called before the House, these electors will officially cast their vote for President.

Now, officially, the electors are sworn to vote for the candidate that they are chosen for, but that doesn't always happen. In both the 2004 and 2000 elections, electors switch votes during the official tally, but only after the winning candidate have received enough votes to win the election. So, technically, the electors can choose a President contrary to the people's wishes; it just never happened before officially (there are conspiracies throughout history that suggest that electors switched votes to give a candidate that shouldn't have been President the Presidency, but that haven't been proved, and that haven't happened recently). If the electors are deadlocked (that is, there is not a majority of the electors' votes for any one candidate), the House of Representatives decide.

I hope that helps.

Answer 5

The electoral college

Answer 6

The electoral college but if no one voted then no one would get the electoral votes...you need both

Answer 7

It's the EC. The people have NO Constitutional right to vote for the President. Whatever right we have to vote for the President comes from our states.

Answer 8

both
both of the votes count
but ithink it is most likely votes of the people, since that is really the voice of the nation, and what counts\
but apparently all the other answers says c
that's weird

Answer 9

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE , HE CAN WIN THE POPULAR VOTE BY THE PEOPLE BY THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE TELLS IT ALL

Answer 10

it sounds like you already know, but i believe the people of each state vote. whoever gets the most votes of the people win the colleges votes for that state, and so on. the highest # of college votes wins.