How does the electoral college work?

Question

I'm trying to do some homework and the question is, How does the electoral college elect the President of the United States. I have tried researching it, but I still don't get it. Can someone please explain it to me in a way I will understand?

Answer 1

wow zeeb that was a great help...
anyways, its quite easy to understand. each state has a certain number of vote (known as the electoral votes) that are determined by there population. i.e. the more people the more votes. obviously a state like california or new york would have more votes than say alaska. its the number of votes that each state is given that is actually counted. and that certain number goes to which even president the state voted for. for example lets take california, which has 55 electoral votes, if the majority (60%) voted republican, then the 55 votes would go to the republican candidate. so therefore it is possible to win the popular vote and not become president as shown in the 2000 election i think? not sure...ill explain that too.
lets say a country has 3 states. state A has 4 electoral votes and has 20,000 people state B has 10 electoral votes and has 50,000 and state C has 5 electoral votes and 30,000 people. 15,000 in state A vote for rep. and 5,000 vote for dem. in state B 30,000 vote for dem. and 20,000 vote for rep. in state C 25,000 vote for rep and 5,000 vote for dem
So we have: popular dem(40,000) rep. (60,000)
and for the electoral votes(dem 10 because majority of state B vote for dem) and rep(9 because majority of state A and C vote of rep)
so therefore the rep would have more popular vote but does not become president because he didnt win the electoral votes...
hope that explained it and didnt make it more confusing

Answer 2

Each state is entitled to electors in number equal to the number of congressman and sentators of that state. E.G., Tennessee has 7 congressmen and 2 senators, so it gets 9 electors. This is the number of "electoral votes" each state has. Each party's presidential candidate approves a list of electors (folks they are really sure will vote for their candidate no matter what) and those people run for elector in the general election for President. Thus, you would not really be voting for Bush or Kerry---just the 9 electors for your candidate of choice. Which ever slate wins a majority of votes in the November election becomes part of the Electoral College which meets in the state capitol building (I think its December 10th or so) and they cast their votes for President and VP. Those written ballots are sealed and delivered to the House of Representatives in DC. They are opened after Congress convenes, counted and the winners declared President and VP. Should their be a tie, the House elects the President and the Senate the VP. Most states have laws binding Electoral College Members to the candidate whose slate they ran on. Hypothetically, they could vote for someone else than the one to whom they were originally committed. This might occur if the President-elect died or had to withdraw for some reason after the election but before the College met.

Alot of folks dis this system, but it has advantages. The contraversy of 2000 would have been far worse without the Electoral College since instead of just Florida being in question, 15 or more states might have had the same thing going on and who knows if we could have gotten a broad acceptance of a result. The College creates a majority sometimes when the absolute number of votes would not. It protects states with small populations from being completely dominated by large states. It should be remembered that this is a Republic . . .not a Democracy.

Good luck!

Answer 3

The Electoral college could be eradicated...definite, the universal vote could come to a determination the President...If it have been that way, Al Gore could have been President in 2000...and Bush by no potential could have been... And the Electoral college is the precise rationalization why some human beings do no longer even vote...They experience their vote does not even count variety because of the fact in the top, the Electoral votes make certain the President, so that they think of WHY difficulty vote casting... Votes in Rhode Island could count variety in basic terms as much as they do in California or Texas...a million guy or lady, a million vote...yet with the aid of Electoral college, they do no longer...

Answer 4

The electoral college is really quite a smart system to ensure that all states votes count. here's the simple version. Prior to the election the parties select their electoral college representatives. Then the vote takes place, and who ever won the majority of votes for that state, the reps for the electoral college vote for that party. This allows sparsely populated states to have the voting power of the populated state like NY, CA and TX. I hope this helped.

Answer 5

every state in the US has a certain number of predetermined electoral votes. tennessee has 11, big states like CA have more and small states like rhode island have very few. when a candidate wins the popular vote in a particular state, he wins ALL of the electoral votes for that state. the actual winner of the election is determined by the person who gets the most electoral votes.

Answer 6

It's based on the population of each state. Bigger population = more electoral votes. People say "popular vote" should be the final say, but that would be unfair to less-populated states. Many smaller states that vote for the same candidate can have a say in government, and not be shut out simply because they aren't from highly populated states like Calif. or NY.
The Elec. College is an equalizer between states.

Answer 7

the electoral college is an out dated system. this was put into effect back in the day. before radio, tv and the internet. the govt thought that the americans were not smart enough. so this system negates the populous vote. there is a select group who actually determine the outcome vs the general public.

Answer 8

Hope someone can explain more clearly than I have time. I was just going to say: BADLY. THAT'S how it works, & should have gotten rid of it a long, long time ago. (zeebya was great, as usual!)

Answer 9

You're not the only one. Even the politicians don't get it!