How does electoral college work?

Question

I know who members are, how many each state has and why they have that many, but what i don't get is winning states. Like you always hear, "if he wins Ohio (or florida, or california, etc)...." But what does it mean by win? Does it mean when you get a majority of a state that has...say, 11 votes and you get 6 you get all 11? or you get 6 and the other gets 5?

Answer 1

The idea of the electoral college is to prevent the election of a specific candidate through ballot stuffing in Urban areas.

Specifics on population statistics are used to define the number of electoral votes a state may cast. Depending on the law of the state all electoral votes may be cast for the majority candidate or the votes may be split along percentage lines so that the candidates receive electoral votes in proportion to their percentage of the popular vote.

The electoral college was created because ballot boxes in urban areas, primarily Boston, New York and Philadelphia were being stuffed with more ballots then there were potential voters, and many more times ballots then there were actual voters.

There was a scandal when Thomas Jefferson was elected because of possible ballot stuffing. Over the years ballot stuffing has primarily appeared to occur in urban voting precincts controlled by Democrats.

Richard Nixon lost the 1960 election to John Kennedy by a few votes from Illinois.

Statistically it is fairly easy these days to determine where ballot stuffing occurs. Statistically you can predict the number of votes in a precinct. When the number of votes are outside the statistical margins you can be fairly sure that voter fraud has occurred.

This happens far more often then the general public realizes in urban and large sub-urban precincts. It is less common, but still happens, in rural precincts.

The electoral college is a method that is used to reduce the potential for voter fraud.

In my opinion electoral votes should be congressional district based, and should be assigned based on the majority vote in that district.

California has adopted a "majority votes" system which allows urban areas to control the vast majority of electoral votes by ballot stuffing which undermines the entire system. Look for a statistical "landslide" increase in voters in urban California areas in 2008 elections.

Answer 2

Some good posts above I would only add one thing. The US is a republic. The Electoral College helps protect that. States decide who is the president not individual people. That is the genius of the founding fathers. To protect the minority from the majority. It sounds counter intuitive at first so thought must be given to the subject, but it is really an ingenious system.




Clinton also beat the first Bush, when Bush had more popular votes.

Answer 3

You win all of one state's electoral college votes if you win the popular vote. This is why winning certain states is more important, because you get more votes. This is also why the system is considered flawed by some, because you can win the popular vote (Gore), but lose the Presidency. But by winning the popular vote, you are the candidate that the people actually want.

Answer 4

Electoral votes are not split when submitted. The amount of votes is based on the population of that state. The Electoral should be abolished and the Popular vote should be recognized.

Answer 5

When the popular vote in a state goes for one candidate, the candidate gets all of the votes from that state.

Answer 6

As was said above, the electoral college serves to stop what is almost always Democratic voter fraud. Historically the founders saw it as a stop gap to prevent to much power from accumulating in one area. Or, it is a way to stop the mob (think Democrat) mentality from prevailing.

Answer 7

It works by telling you your vote does not mean a damm thing.

Answer 8

Seems to have worked all these years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.