1. Electoral College

2. Origins Article II Section 1 establishes the Electoral College for choosing the President. “Each State shall appoint …a number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled to in Congress…” Currently 538 electors: 435 members in the House of Representatives + 100 in the Senate + 3 for DC.

3. In PA a slate of electors is chosen in the May Primary preceding the National Election. National Election is held the Tuesday after the 1 st Monday in November. Electors chosen on a winner-take-all basis in most states. Electors meet in their states on the Monday after the 2 nd Wednesday in December.

4. Ballots are signed and sealed and sent to the President of the Senate in Washington DC. The ballots are opened and counted on January 6 th before a joint session of Congress. Candidates with a majority of votes, 270, are declared the winners.

5. If no candidate has a majority the President is elected by the House of Representatives and the Vice-president is elected by the Senate. In the House each state gets one vote with 26 votes required to win. In the Senate a majority of the whole Senate is required to win.

6. Flaws Winner of popular vote may not win the presidency Caused by the winner-take-all feature Also a result of the way electoral votes are distributed among the states Each state gets 2 senators regardless of population. Happened in 2000 – Gore won popular vote but lost electoral vote.

7. 2 nd defect – nothing “requires” the electors to vote for who won the popular vote. Has happened on 9 occasions but did not affect the outcome.

8. Third defect – election may be decided by the House. Has only happened twice. Presence of a strong 3 rd party candidate could prevent a candidate getting a majority. Happened in 1800 and 1824 Problem s with this – small states have as much say as a large state

9. If state delegation cannot decide the state would lose its vote. Third - a majority is required. A strong 3 rd party candidate could prolong the vote past Inauguration Day.

10. Proposed reforms District Plan – electors chosen at the state level the same way members of congress are chosen – Two at-large electors – casting their vote the way the state popular vote goes Other electors chosen by districts – vote the way the district votes in the popular election. Problem – would not eliminate the possibility of loser of popular vote winning the electoral vote.

11. Proportional Plan – each candidate would receive the same share of electoral votes as they received in the popular vote. Would cure winner-take-all problem Would be in line with the popular vote for each state Because the votes for senators the loser of the popular vote could still win the electoral vote