Going to College! How the System Works

It's time for a little food for thought here on the blog.  I recently participated in a discussion of the election process and I realized that there are a lot of people out there who don't know exactly how the process works.  We see and hear a lot of information about electoral votes and we see maps and talk about swing states (Ohio, anyone?) until we're blue in the face, but why do they matter so much, and why does the Presidential election always come down to just a handful of states?  Let's find out.

The founding fathers were a sneaky lot.  At the beginning, they wanted the President and Vice President to be chosen by Congress.  Only a few favored a popular vote.  
They worked out a system that was basically designed to make it difficult to declare a clear winner--a candidate had to have the most votes and more than half of all votes cast in order to win the Presidency.  The person with the second most votes became VP.  When there was no candidate that met their criteria (as set forth in the Constitution), the election was kicked over to Congress, where they wanted it in the first place.  Sneaky buggers.

Through time, we've modified the system and amended the Constitution to the system we have in place today.  Each state has a number of electors equal to their representatives in Congress (the number in the House plus two for the state's Senators) plus three electors for Washington, DC--a total of 538 votes.  It takes 270 to win a majority of those votes and be declared President (and Vice President).  

The electors are chosen by the individual states.  The Constitution leaves it up to them to decide how the electors are chosen, with one caveat--anyone holding federal office (either appointed or elected) may not be an elector.  Electors are nominated by their political parties before the upcoming election day.  Some states nominate electors in their primaries just like other candidates, some nominate their electors at their party's convention.  In Pennsylvania, the candidates campaign committee nominates their electors--it avoids the problem of faithless electors.  

Forty-eight states, plus DC have a winner-take-all system of casting electoral votes.  He (or she) who wins the popular vote, wins all the marbles.  In Nebraska and Maine, they use the Congressional District method, where one elector is selected in each Congressional District and the remaining two by popular vote of the state.  They split their electoral votes based on who wins their districts; the remaining two are given to the candidate who wins the most districts in the state.  

So then the election is held on the Tuesday following the first Monday of November. 
The people select their candidate for the Presidential ticket, and (even though not on the ballot on all the states), their electors as well. The electors are attached to their Presidential choice.  Yay! The election is over...not quite.

The electors are directed to meet in their state capitals (or within the district of DC) on the Monday following the second Wednesday of December (who made this stuff up)?! This is when they cast their separate ballots for President and Vice President, and once these ballots are counted, they are recorded, sealed and sent off to a joint session of Congress held on January 6th.  The votes of the individual states, which are stored in two special mahogany boxes are then opened and certified by both bodies of Congress.  They can object to a state's vote, but it requires an objection in writing signed by one member of the house and the senate.  This has never happened in the history of the country.

If neither candidate reaches a majority of electoral votes, Congress must immediately go into session.  The President is selected by the House.  Each state receives one vote (at this point, DC is thrown out of the mix and gets no vote).  A candidate must receive a majority of votes to become President-elect.  As the President and VP are voted for on individual ballots, if no VP candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, he or she is selected by the Senate.  Two-thirds of the Senate must be present for a vote to take place.  Both senators from each state may vote, and a simple majority must be achieved (51 votes).  The sitting Vice-President is precluded from breaking a tie.  

Now you know exactly how the election process works, from beginning to end.  Obviously it is a weighted system, with the states with the highest populations having the most electoral votes.  There are very good arguments for keeping the current system, and very good arguments for changing up and instituting a popular vote method.  That subject is a whole other blog.  
Class dismissed!!  

PS. Don't forget to go out and vote on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November (the 6th)!!