How are people appointed to the Electoral College that actually elects our president????

Question

This maybe the best keep secret in American Politics. you NEVER here who the electoral college is or how that appointed!

Answer 1

Uh... have you EVER taken a history class?

The electoral college isn't an actual group of people! Each state is allocated a certain number of "electoral" votes. I think CA has nine electorial votes... all the states together have something over 200. It was supposedly based upon population... to norm the value of each state's votes. Anyway, if Candidate A wins in any given state, then the total number of electoral votes for that state is cast for that candidate.

It means they don't actually count every person's vote nationwide... that they do it by state, and then each state's votes are put toward one or the other candidate.

By the way, I don't believe the founding fathers put the electoral college system in place... that was a modern idea...

Answer 2

Depends on state law. different states have different laws, that's why you never hear. Most are simply given to the winning party to control, for example if the Dems carry a state they get to choose the electors.

Answer 3

The Electoral College is vitally important and must never be eliminated, forever until the end of time. Our founders knew what they were doing when they gave us this marvelous system.

Apportionment of Electors
Beginning with the election of 1964, a commensurate number of people to the number of Electoral Votes have been elected in each presidential election to cast the electoral vote. Each state has as many Electors as it has Representatives and Senators. The most populous state is California (55), followed by Texas (34) and New York (31). The smallest states by population, Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming, have three Electors each. Because the number of representatives for each state is determined decennially by the United States Census, the electoral votes for each state are also determined by the Census every ten years. The number of Electors is equal to the total membership of both houses of Congress, plus additional Electors allocated to the District of Columbia. There are currently 100 Senators and 435 Members of the House of Representatives, so the total membership of both houses of Congress is 535. There are currently 3 Electors allocated to the District of Columbia (equal to the minimum number assigned to a state, derived from 2 senators and at least one representative), so the total number of Electors is 538. Therefore, in order to win the Presidency, it is necessary for the successful candidate to gain 270 electoral votes (a majority of 538).

Under the 23rd Amendment, the District of Columbia is allocated as many Electors as it would have if it were a state, except that it cannot have more Electors than the least populous state. The least populous state (currently Wyoming) has 3 Electors, so the District cannot have more than 3 Electors. If the least populous state had 4 Electors, however, the District would be entitled to a maximum of 4 Electors. At its current population, however, it would remain at 3 because it is not nearly as large as any of the states that receive 4 Electors.

It has been argued by advocates for statehood for the District that Wyoming has a smaller population than Washington, D.C. and therefore deserves fewer electors. However, opponents note that Houston, New York City, and Los Angeles each have vastly greater populations than Washington, D.C. and no dedicated electoral votes at all. These cities do, of course, have their population count in the total for their state and thus give their state more electors.

Legislation is currently before Congress which would add a congressional seat to Utah, give Washington DC a voting seat, and would therefore give Utah 1 additional Electoral College vote. The total number of Electoral College votes would then be 539, and a majority would still be 270. The additional congressional seat would be permanent, and reapportioned normally after the 2010 census.


[edit] How states currently assign Electors
Presidential Electors are nominated by their state political parties in the summer before the Popular Vote on Election Day. Each state provides its own means for the nomination of Electors. In some states, such as Oklahoma, the Electors are nominated in primaries the same way that other candidates are nominated. Other states, such as Virginia and North Carolina, nominate Electors in party conventions. In Pennsylvania, the campaign committees of the candidates name their candidates for Presidential Elector (an attempt to discourage faithless Electors). All states require the names of all Electors to be filed with the Secretary of State (or equivalent) at least a month prior to election day.

On election day, voters cast ballots for slates of Presidential Electors pledged to the candidates for president and vice president. In most states, the party that wins the state elects its entire slate of Electors. At the time of the state canvass of the vote, the Secretary of State (or equivalent) signs a special form called the Certificate of Ascertainment which sets forth the people elected to the office of Presidential Elector, along with the number of votes cast for every party's slate of Elector nominees. These Certificates of Ascertainment are forwarded to the Office of the Vice President to be used to verify that the people who cast the electoral votes are in fact the people who were elected for that purpose.

Two states elect the Presidential Electors with a slightly different method. Maine and Nebraska elect two Electors by a statewide ballot and choose their remaining Electors by congressional district. The method has been used in Maine since 1972 and Nebraska since 1996, though neither has split its electoral votes in modern elections.

Answer 4

There's no secret to it. Practically everybody learned about it in their high school classes about "Civics" or "American History."

Answer 5

after that first post, I don't think I need to add anything.