A Couple of Electoral College Questions?

Question

Why do we still have the electoral college? i noticed in the back of my history book that there are several elections where the presdent who won did not win the popular vote...

i know when america was a baby, the founders didn't have faith in some of the uneducated people, so they founded the elcetoral college, but now i think we all are smart enough and educated enough to make our own choices.

do our votes even count for anything? i think i'm missing something here, if someone could fill me in!

Answer 1

Yes our votes count and now I am going to overwhelm you with information.

What is the Electoral College?

Summary:

Americans elect the President and Vice-president through a method of indirect popular election. On November 4, 2008, voters cast their ballots for a presidential candidate. However, votes actually count towards a group of electors who pledge to vote for a specific candidate when the Electoral College meets in December. The "Electoral College" is the unofficial term coined in the 1800s for the group of citizens selected by the people to cast votes for President and Vice President.

The presidential/vice-presidential pair who wins the popular vote in any given state receives all* of the state's number of Electoral College votes. In the end, the winner of the race is the candidate who receives a majority (270) of the 538 Electoral College votes. The results of the 2008 election won't be official until the President of the Senate counts the votes out loud at a special joint session of Congress held on January 6, 2009.

A More Detailed Description:

The 12th Amendment to the United States Constitution outlines the process for electing the President of the United States. This indirect method of popular election is known as the Electoral College. While some state laws regarding this process differ, the general method for electing the president is listed below.


Before the November election, political parties in each state create lists of potential electors(generally active members of the party) who pledge to vote for the party's candidate in the Electoral College.


A state's number of electoral votes equals the number of the state's Congressional delegation [the number of U.S. Senators (always 2) PLUS the number of U.S. Representatives.] The District of Columbia receives three electoral votes, as determined by the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution. See Electoral College Votes per State for your state's number of electoral votes.


On November 4, 2008, Voters cast their ballots for a block of electors who, in turn, will vote for a certain presidential candidate. The winner of the popular vote in each state receives the state's entire number* of Electoral College votes.

For example, if a Democratic presidential candidate receives the most votes in Texas, the 34 Democratic electors become the voting block representing the Lone Star state. Therefore, the Democratic presidential candidate receives 34 of the 538 total votes in the Electoral College. The winner of the 2008 Presidential Election is the candidate who collects 270 votes, the majority.


Each state's block of electors (members of the winning candidate's party) assembles in their respective state capitol on December 13, 2008. At this meeting, the electors sign the 'Certificate of Vote,' which is sealed and delivered to the Office of the President of the United States Senate.


A special joint session of the U.S. Congress convenes on January 6, 2009. At this meeting, the President of the Senate reads the Certificates of Votes and declares the official winner.
* The exceptions are Maine and Nebraska, where a proportional method for allocating votes is used.


National Popular Vote Interstate Compact
National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is a proposed agreement between states in the United States dealing with their allocation of electoral votes. This interstate compact would effectively shift the method of election of the President of the United States to a national popular vote system. By the terms of the compact, states agree to give all of their electoral votes to the national popular vote winner, regardless of the balance of votes in their own states. The compact would only go into effect once it was joined by states representing a majority of the electoral college.

Source: http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/

Faithless Electors
A faithless elector is one who casts an electoral vote for someone other than whom they have pledged to elect. On 158 occasions, electors have cast their votes for president or vice president in a different manner than that prescribed by the legislature of the state they represent. Of those, 71 votes were changed because the original candidate died before the elector was able to cast a vote. Two votes were not cast at all when electors chose to abstain from casting their electoral vote for any candidate. The remaining 85 were changed by the elector's personal interest or perhaps by accident. Usually, the faithless electors act alone.

There are laws to punish faithless electors in 24 states. While no faithless elector has ever been punished, the constitutionality of state pledge laws was brought before the Supreme Court in 1952 Ray v. Blair, 343 U.S. 214). The court ruled in favor of state laws requiring electors to pledge to vote for the winning candidate, as well as remove electors who refuse to pledge. As stated in the ruling, electors are acting as a function of the state, not the federal government. Therefore, states have the right to govern electors. The constitutionality of state laws punishing electors for actually casting a faithless vote, rather than refusing to pledge, has never been decided by the Supreme Court. In any event, a state may only punish a faithless elector after-the-fact; it has no power to change their vote.

Source: http://www.fairvote.org/e_college/faithless.htm

For even more go to:

Answer 2

We still have the Electoral College, because the constitution provides for it, and the constitution is very difficult to change. Many people in small states think the Electoral College gives them an advantage, so they will not support a constitutional amendment. - But in practice, the Electoral College hurts both small and large states, unless they are swing states with approximately an equal number of voters who are likely to vote Democratic and Republican. - After the primaries, the candidates don't pay any attention to the big states of Texas and California, or the small states of Idaho, Utah, and Hawaii, because it is clear which way their Electoral votes are going to go. - Instead, the candidates concentrate on a few swing states, such as Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In the last two elections, the candidate who won two of those three states became president and it will probably work the same way in 2008. -

Fortunately, there is a way to make the Electoral College irrelevant without a constitutional amendment.

See: http://www.nationalpopularvote.com and
http://www.every-vote-equal.com/

Answer 3

We still have it because no politician has gotten busy and fixed the problem. When Al Gore won the majority vote in 2000 but lost the election, the electoral college should have immediately been done away with.

Answer 4

Why do we still have an electoral college? The short answer is because it is established by the express text of the Constitution.

The framers understood that winning a slim majority in Congress in one election did not mean that a party represented the will of the American people. As such, they put a lot of mechanisms in place to make it difficult for a single Congress to make major changes. In particular, they made it very very difficult to amend the U.S. Constition (which is one reason why the Equal Rights Amendment is not part of the Constitution -- falling a couple of states short). A constitutional amendment requires a 2/3 vote in each house of Congress followed by ratification by 3/4 of the states.

The mean number of representatives per state in Congress is 8.7. Because every state has two Senators, states with fewer than the mean number of representatives have more power under an electoral college than under a popular vote method. Seven states have one representative, five states have two representatives, and five states have three representatives. Needless to say these states have significantly more influence under the current system. They would have little if any influence under the popular vote system. Combined these seventeen states are more than enough to block any constititutional amendments.

Your vote does count for something. It counts toward choosing the electors in your state. If the candidate you vote for wins the state, his/her party's candidates for elector will win and cast their electoral votes for him/her.

Answer 5

you miss the main points of electoral college.
One of the Idea is we are a republic. States elect the president not people. People elect congress members.
If people elected the president directly high population centers and cities could impose their will on the rest of the country.
Think about where presidents campaign
Your reaction is an emotional one it has not clearly and completely been explored. You must consider the logical consequences of the alternative.
To the Above poster
Bill Clinton did not win the popular vote either

Answer 6

I think the electoral college is ridiculous. If it was based on each and every vote Al Gore would have won the 2000 election.

Gotta love the founding fathers

Answer 7

nicely, you're good on the subject of the vote casting. the common vote doesnt mean something (see 2000 election) yet those votes are meant to sway the determination for the vote on the electoral. no count number if or not it does is thoroughly as much as the elected genuine.

Answer 8

Oh My, what a tangled web we weave....

The Electoral colleges is needed more than ever today.

If we went by the most votes, then the President of the Unites sates would be decided by the citizens of NYC, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Miami, LA, Las Vegas, and your vote would be for naught. (unless you live on one of the above mentioned cities.)

Answer 9

a pet peeve of mine too.... it may have been nessecary but now it is a toll of dirty polititions and they only visit the states they need for votes.

Back when Ross Perot ran for office, I voted for him for I was getting sick of the two party system and wanted to be heard. Pero reiceve 20% of the popular vote, a no electorial votes, so 1/5th of our countries votes got put in another candidates box.

since then I cannot vote... makes me sick............

Answer 10

America believe the citizens will choose wrong president, thats why their are Electoral college.