Top Ten Questions About the Electoral College You've Always Wanted to Ask

Prepared by The California Democratic Party

• "The Framers [i.e. Country’s Founders of the USA] were wary of giving the people the power to directly elect the President - some felt the citizenry too beholden to local interests, too easily duped by promises or shenanigans, or simply because a national election, in the time of oil lamps and quill pens, was just impractical. Some proposals gave the power to the Congress, but this did not sit well with those who wanted to see true separation of the branches of the new government. Still others felt the state legislatures should decide, but this was thought to make the President too beholden to state interests. The Electoral College, proposed by convention delegate James Wilson, was the compromise that the Constitutional Convention reached." (http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_elec.html)
  
  
• The Electoral College exaggerates the margin of victory from the popular vote, which gives a clear winner and prevents conflict.
  
  
• Originally, the person who had the second highest number of Electoral votes became Vice-President (if there was a tie, the winner of the House vote became President; the loser was Vice-President). They did not foresee certain things, the most important of which is the formation of political parties. In the 1800 election of the Jefferson/Burr ticket, the ticket had the highest number of Electoral votes, and because their electors wrote both Jefferson and Burr on their ballots, there was a tie. The House was thrown into a fit, and it took 36 votes to finally elect Jefferson as President. The 12th Amendment was ratified four years later to avert any recurrence of these events by tallying President/VP separately. (http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_elec.html)

• 270: 50%=269 plus one are needed out of a total of 538 members of Congress (435 in the House and 100 U.S. Senators plus three votes for D.C.).
  
  
• Electoral votes are allocated by the number of U.S. Senators (2) and congressional districts in each state (based on population).
  
  
  • 2004: G.W. Bush (286) vs. Kerry (251)
    
    
  • 2000: G.W. Bush (271) vs. Gore (266) [one Gore Elector abstained from the District of Columbia, as a protest against the status of D.C.]
    
    
  • 1996: Clinton (379) vs. Dole (159)
    
    
  • 1992: Clinton (370) vs. G.H.W. Bush (168)

• Each State and Party in that State has their own system of presidential elector selection. In California, a Democratic elector must have been registered to vote as a Democrat for the primary and can reside anywhere in California.
  
  
• The 55 California electors are average citizens appointed by Senators Boxer and Feinstein and the 53 congressional nominees (California Elections Code Division 7, Section 7100), each appoint one person. Congressional nominees, members of Congress and employees of the federal government are prohibited from serving as electors in order to maintain the balance between the legislative and executive branches of the federal government (U.S. Constitution: Article II, Section I).
  
  
• In cases where there is/are no Senate/Congressional nominee(s), California state law (Election Code 7100) provides that the California Democratic Party Chair appoints the Democratic elector.
  
  
• The list of electors is a public document and was finalized as of October 1, 2008.
  
  
• Whichever party slate (Obama/Biden or McCain/Palin) wins the most popular votes in the state become that state's electors. So, in effect, whichever presidential ticket gets the most popular votes in a state wins all the electors of that state. The two exceptions to this rule are in Maine and Nebraska where two electors are awarded by statewide popular vote, and then one elector in each Congressional district is awarded based on the popular vote in that Congressional district.
  
  
• The deadline to turn in electors to the California Secretary of State was October 1, 2008.

• The list of electors is certified by the Secretary of State in each state by the first Monday in December (December 1, 2008).
  
  
• This year, the Electoral College will meet on Monday, December 15, 2008 in every state capital in the nation plus the District of Columbia (the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December- as set by federal law).
  
  
• California: Electoral College will meet at 2pm PST in the Assembly Chambers in the State Capitol in Sacramento.

• Nine times (out of 25 elections) --
  
  
  • Woodrow Wilson (1916)
    
    
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt (1932/1936/1940/1944)
    
    
  • Harry S. Truman (1948)
    
    
  • Lyndon B. Johnson (1964)
    
    
  • Bill Clinton (1992/1996)
    
• Then again in 2000, Al Gore, and in 2004, John Kerry.
  
  
• In the last four straight elections (1992/1996/2000/2004), the California Electoral and Popular Vote went to Democratic Presidential Candidates.

• Four --
  • 1824- John Quincy Adams was elected by the U.S. House of Representatives when no candidate received a majority of electoral votes. Adams (30.9%), Jackson (41.3%), Clay (13%), Crawford (11.2%)
    
    
  • 1876- Republican Rutherford Hayes (48%) vs. Tilden (51%)
    
    
  • 1888- Republican Benjamin Harrison (47.8%) vs. Cleveland (48.6)
    
    
  • 2000- Republican George W. Bush (47.9%) vs. Gore (48.4%)
    
    
• None of the first three served a second term. 

• 24 states have no requirements. 19 states (including California) and the District of Columbia have laws requiring electors to vote for the nominees heading their party slate, but provide no penalty for those who do not. Five states have penalties for electors who violate their pledges.
  
  
• From 1789-2004, only 11 electors violated their pledges, with 2004 being the latest. None of these “faithless electors” changed the outcome of an election, but cast their votes to make a point or highlight an issue. None suffered legally, but some electors’ political reputations and careers were damaged.
  
  
• There is room for bargaining between the November elections and the meeting of the electors in December if the election does not produce a majority in the Electoral College. Candidates who win a plurality in one or more states can ask their electors to vote for another candidate in order to receive concessions (ex: Compromise of 1877. (Refer to #8)

• If a candidate dies or resigns before the electors cast their ballots, the affected national party would meet and choose a new candidate.
  
  
• If a candidate dies or resigns after the electors cast their ballots but before the ballots are counted, and if the candidate was chosen by a majority of electors, Congress would acknowledge the death.
  
  
• Congress would then name the Vice President-elect the President-elect, thus allowing the Vice President-elect to become President.
  
  
• Another legal option in this situation would allow Congress to pass a law allowing the House of Representatives to choose a President and the Senate to choose the Vice President.

• The Electoral Count Act provides that state officials must use state law to resolve any controversies about casting or counting votes. This law was passed in 1887 after the Hayes-Tilden election of 1876 when Tilden received a popular majority, but lacked one undisputed electoral vote to win the Electoral College. 22 electoral votes were in dispute because four states sent in two sets of election returns (one supporting Tilden/one supporting Hayes). Congress appointed a commission to decide which set of votes to count. The Republicans (Hayes) won after agreeing to remove troops from the south, ending Reconstruction. This became known as the Compromise of 1877.

• On January 6, 2009 (1pm D.C. time), the President of the U.S. Senate (Dick Cheney) opens the certificates (certified electoral vote from each state) containing the votes before a joint session (in the U.S. House) of the just sworn in House and Senate, with the four appointed tellers (two House and two Senate) to count the certificates.
  
  
• Objections to the count must be filed in writing and signed by at least one member of the House and one member of the Senate. The House and Senate then retire to special sessions to decide whether to accept or reject the questioned certificates. Both chambers have to reject the challenged certificate for it to be disqualified.
  
  
• If no candidate receives the simple majority vote (270) of the Electoral College, the selection moves to the newly-constituted House for the President and the Senate for the Vice President (Article II of the U.S. Constitution).
  

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Links to further information

www.fec.gov/pages/ecmenu2.htm
www.memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwec.html
www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_college/
www.vote-smart.org/election_president_what_is_electoral_college.php
www.sos.ca.gov/elections/election_2008/pres-general/elector_list_write_ins.pdf
www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_b.htm
www.usconstitution.net/consttop_elec.html
www.presidentelect.org/art_ecreform2002.html
www.thegreenpapers.com/G00/G00.html

Books/Reading on the Electoral College and the Presidency:

After the People Vote, A Guide to the Electoral College, 3rd Edition -- Fortier, John C. (Editor) 2004

Founding the American Presidency -- Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield -- Ellis, Richard (Editor) 1999

Federalist No. 10 (Madison), Federalist No. 68 (Hamilton), and Antifederalist No. 72 (anon.)

Choosing a President: The Electoral College and Beyond -- Schumaker, Paul D. and Burdett A. Loomis 2002