WHO ELECTS THE PRESIDENT?
The Electoral College

You'd think that the election of the president and vice president would be a relatively simple matter -- whoever gets the most votes wins. But it's a little more complicated than that. Instead of providing that the president and vice president be chosen directly by voters, they are elected by the members of the electoral college, an institution provided for in the U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1, as modified by the 12th, 20th and 23rd Amendments. The president and the vice president of the United States are the only elective federal officials NOT elected by a direct vote of the people.

The device of the electoral college was suggested by Alexander Hamilton and adopted by the framers of the Constitution. The founding fathers were concerned about
direct election by the people and were trying to establish a balance between the state's and the people's interests. The electoral college was one of the ways our founders tried to keep "popular passions" from steering the national government in the wrong direction. Through the years there have been more than 100 attempts in Congress to abolish the electoral college, all unsuccessful.

Under the Constitution, each state is authorized to choose electors for president and vice president; the number of electors per state is equal to the combined number of U.S. senators and representatives from that state. The electoral college includes 535 electors from the states -- 100 senators and 435 representatives -- plus 3 electors from the District of Columbia for a grand total of 538. A majority of 270 electoral votes is needed to elect the president and vice-president. Electors vote separately for the two offices.

The presidential electors are chosen by the political parties. In most states each party nominates a slate of electors at their state convention. These people are usually selected on the basis of their party service. (An elector cannot be a member of Congress or hold federal office.)

On election day, when voters choose a presidential ticket including the presidential and vice presidential candidates, they are actually voting for electors pledged to that ticket. Some voters are not aware that this is what they are doing as the names of the electors do not appear on the ballot in many states. In actuality, the voters are choosing one party's slate of electors over another's. The result is one party wins all or none of a state's electoral votes. Voters in each state, by a simple plurality, select the group of electors representing the party whose presidential nominee has won the popular vote.

The electors meet in their respective state capitals, or in some other place prescribed by their state legislatures, on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. Twenty-six states have no requirement that electors vote in accordance with the popular vote. Nineteen states and D.C. mandate that they vote in accordance with the popular vote, but there's no penalty if an elector fails to do so. Only five states have penalties for deviating from the popular vote; but in most of those states the sanctions are relatively minor. Throughout U.S. history only nine "faithless electors" have violated their pledges to vote for their party's nominees.

Certified and sealed lists of the electors' votes are sent to the president of the U.S. Senate. On January 6, (the next day if the 6th is a Sunday), the Senate president (the current Vice President), in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives in joint session, formally counts the electoral votes of all the states and announces the count. If one nominee receives the votes of a majority of presidential electors -- 270 out of 538 -- a president has been elected. Under the electoral college system, a candidate who fails to win a majority popular vote can win a majority of electoral votes. This happened in the elections of 1824, 1876, 1888 and 2000.

If no presidential candidate receives a majority in the electoral college, the newly elected members of the House of Representatives pick the winner from the top three candidates receiving the highest number of electoral votes. Each state's delegation in the House casts only one vote, regardless of its size. A majority of states must agree on one candidate. To win, a nominee must get 26 votes.
If the House cannot get a majority, the vice president selected by the Senate would serve as president - starting Jan. 20. He would become the actual president if the House stalemate lasted indefinitely. The House decided the outcome of the presidential elections in 1800, electing Thomas Jefferson, and in 1824, electing John Quincy Adams.

If no vice presidential candidate receives a majority in the electoral college, the newly elected Senate, voting as individuals, picks the winner from the top two vote-getters by a majority vote. This occurred in the 1836 election and the Senate chose Richard Johnson as vice president.

If the Senate is unable to elect a vice president (who would serve as president in the event the House cannot get the needed 26 votes to select the president), the Speaker of the House would take over as president, and the House would continue to attempt to choose a president.

ELECTORAL VOTES FOR PRESIDENT
(based on 2000 Census)
Total Electoral Votes - 538
Needed to Win - 270

Alabama - 9
Alaska - 3
Arizona - 10
Arkansas - 6
California - 55
Colorado - 9
Connecticut - 7
Delaware - 3
District of Columbia - 3
Florida - 27
Goergia - 15
Hawaii - 4
Idaho - 4
Illinois - 21
Iowa - 7
Kansas - 6
Kentucky - 8
Louisiana - 9
Maine - 9
Mayland - 4
Massachusetts - 12
Michigan - 17
Minnesota - 10
Mississippi - 6
Missouri - 11
Montana - 3
Nebraska - 5
Nevada - 5
New Hampshire - 4
New JErsey - 15
New Mexico - 5
New York - 31
North Carolina - 15
North Dakota - 3
Ohio - 20
Oklahoma - 7
Oregon - 7
Pennsylvania - 21
Rhode Island - 4
South Carolina - 8
South Dakota - 3
Tennessee - 11
Texas - 35
Utah - 5
Vermont - 3
Virginia - 13
Washington - 11
West Virginia - 5
Wisconsin - 10
Wyoming - 3