What’s Electoral College?
Electoral College is a group of people selected who chooses the president and the vice president of the United States. This body would have the final say on the country’s leadership.
The Electoral College consists of 538 electors, and it takes at least 270 electoral votes to win the seat of the presidency. Each state gets at least three electoral votes. It is each state has several electors identical to the total number of its senators and representatives in Congress.
Presidential Election
In every presidential election, the presidential candidates actively campaign in the whole states to win with the highest number of votes cast. They make sure they have the highest number of votes from their respective electoral votes to make the candidate the winner in the elections. The number of electors varies by states: Alabama, for example, has 9; Alaska has 3; Ohio had 18; Oregon has 7; Minnesota has 10; New York has 29; New Jersey has 14; Texas has 38; Florida has 29; Massachusetts has 11; Maryland has 10; Arizona has 11. To determine the president of the United States, the candidate with the highest votes from the 538 electors, as candidates race to win the minimum of 270 electoral votes during the general election.
Efforts to terminate the Electoral College, which remains one of the oldest institutions in the United States political system, is increasing. Many critics have questioned the Electoral College as antidemocratic. The college has single-handedly decided two of the past five presidential elections. For instance, both George W. Bush and Donald Trump lost the general election votes during their ballots in 2000 and 2016, respectively. They still went on to become president simply because they had more electoral college votes.
How Do U.S. choose state electors?
Choosing the state’s electors is divided into two. Firstly, the political parties representing each state decides on the partisan electors sometimes before the general elections. Secondly, on the election day, the voters in each state choose their state electors by casting their ballots for president.
The Constitution
The Constitution and federal law guiding the United States does not require electors to stand firm by the votes’ results in individual states. To reduce the chances of crimes such as corruption, bribery, and some illegal backroom deals, they stopped electors from gathering in one unit to cast their ballots. Electors are now to meet in different state capitals to cast their votes. The states do the manner of selecting electors.
However, the law stipulates that no Senator or Representative or Person in Office of Trust under the US should be appointed an Elector. The US citizens are not okay with the US electoral college because a candidate with much higher votes possibly can still end up losing the presidential elections. Now, they are calling for reforms in the constitution. Over 700 proposals was introduced to the Congress to either reform or change the law guiding the electoral college.
