That’s one of the most surprising facts about voting in the United States: when popular vote chooses members of Congress, mayors, governors, state legislators, and even more obscure local officials, it doesn’t determine the highest ranking of the presidential winner. In the ground.
That important decision ultimately comes down to the Electoral College. When Americans vote, they actually vote for the slate of voters appointed by their state’s political parties who promise to support that party’s candidate. (They don’t always do that.)
This focuses intensely on the warring states, as candidates seek to maximize their electoral advantage by targeting states, which could help them reach the total required 270 votes out of a total of 853 to capture. What Elect Elect Oral College Ledge Inspires Many People If Some Scenes Are More Than Others.
Can the President lose the popular vote but win the election but the College College vote?
Yes, and that’s what happened in 2016: Although Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote with nearly 3 million votes, Donald Trump won about 57 percent of the vote, enough to win the presidency.
The same thing happened in 2000. Nonetheless, Al Gore won the popular vote, with George W. Bush gaining more electoral votes after the Florida election and the Supreme Court ruling. It had happened three times before, John Quincy Adams (1824), Rutherford b. With the elections of Hayes (1876) and Benjamin Harrison (1888).
The electoral system has in many cases given the presidency to candidates with a majority of popular votes (less than 50%), most notably Abraham Lincoln in 1860, John F. Kennedy in 1960 and Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996.
What happens in a tie?
Because there are a number of electoral votes, a tie is possible. If it takes place in the Electoral College College Ledge, then the decision goes to the newly seated House of Representatives, in which each state votes as a unit.
Although it is not detailed in the constitution, each state delegation will vote on which candidate to support as a group, said Akhil Reed Amre, a professor of law and political science at Yale University, with a majority of the day. If there is a tie vote in a state delegation, the state vote does not count. The presidential candidate needs at least 26 votes to win.
Currently, Republicans control 26 state delegations, while Democrats control 22. Pennsylvania is bound between Republican and Democratic representatives, and Michigan has seven Democrats, six Republicans and one Independent. That could all change on November 3rd. Of course, because all the seats in the House are for elections.
The decision on the vice president goes to the newly elected Senate, with each senator voting. Ultimately, any disputes about the process could take everything to the Supreme Court.
What if voters break their vows?
People call them “faithful voters”. In 2016, seven voters – 5 Democrats and 2 Republicans – broke their promises to vote for their party’s candidate, the highest turnout ever in history. They voted not on the ballot but on various candidates: Bernie Sanders, Colin Powell and Ron Paul among others. That result has not changed.
Whether voters should be able to change their position has been hotly debated, with the Supreme Court unanimously ruling in July that states must abide by their promise to voters to support a particular candidate.
Some scholars have said they do not agree wholeheartedly with the decision, arguing that it jeopardizes the freedom of voters to make the decision they want and that voters are generally chosen for loyalty to candidates or parties.
“If the candidates do very well as promised and select rock solid people, they will do as promised,” said Professor Amre.
Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have laws requiring voters to vote for their nominee. Some states take the place of voters and cancel their votes if they break their promise.
Certain penalties exist in other states. In New Mexico, serious offenses can be filed if voters abandon their will, and a trusted voter in Oklahoma could face a misdemeanor charge.
How did this system evolve?
The Electoral College was born in Philadelphia at the 1787 Constitutional Convention.
The founders of the nation expected to prevent the formation of powerful groups and political parties, and they wanted a system that did not rely solely on popular majorities or Congress. Despite the name, it is not a college ledge in the modern academic sense, but refers to a collegium or a group of peers.
There were some unusual results of the system from the beginning, it became clear in the 1800 election that Thymus Jefferson and Aaron Burr received the same number of electoral votes. Congress broke the tie, and Jefferson became president and Burr became vice president. (Until the ratification of the 12th Amendment in 1804, the second most voted candidate became vice president.)
Today, after the second Wednesday in December, voters meet in their respective states on Monday this year – December 14 this year – to vote separately for president and vice president, with the candidates receiving a majority.
Voters are elected every four years by the state’s political parties in the months leading up to election day. Procedures vary from state to state with some select voters during state Republican and Democratic conventions. Some states list the names of voters on the general election ballot.
The process of selecting electors can be “an internal game,” said Kimberly Whale, a professor at the University of Baltimore and author of “You Need to Know About Voting and Why.” They are often state legislators, party leaders or donors, he said.
How many electoral votes does it take to win?
The key number is 270. There are a total of 8 electoral votes in all states and Washington, D.C. The total number of votes assigned to each state varies by population, but each state has at least three, and the district has three voters in Columbia since 1961.
Are all states winner-take-all?
Most, and it helps to think about voting on a state-by-state basis, said Professor Amre.
“It’s just like tennis,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how many sets you win and how many games or points you win. You have to win the set, and in our system you have to win the state. ”
The two exceptions are Maine and Nebraska, which rely on congressional districts to cast electoral votes. The winner of the state’s popular vote receives two electoral votes, and the winner of the popular vote in each congressional district receives one vote.
Arguments are being made that states with smaller populations make more representations in the Electoral Rule College Ledge, as each state gets at least 3 voters regardless of population. In a clearer example, scattered Wyoming has three votes and a population of about 80,80,000, giving its individual voters a better chance of voting than their millions of counterparts in densely populated states like Florida, California and New York. And American citizens who live in Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Living in regions like the Virgin Islands, they are not represented by any voters.
Alexander Kisser, a professor of history and social policy at Harvard University, said: “When you talk about electing college electorate, it shapes elections because it focuses on some states, not others. , ‘Said Alexander Kisser, professor of history and social policy at Harvard University.
Will the system ever change?
Discussions have been going on for years about abolishing the electoral college altogether, with the 201 election debates resurfacing. It was also a point of contention between the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
The idea has public support, but faces partisan divisions, as Republicans currently benefit from the electoral advantage of sparsely populated, rural states.
Gallup reports that 1 percent of Americans support the abolition of the Electoral Rule College Legislation in favor of the popular vote. However, that support varies widely depending on the political party, with 89 percent of Democrats and only 23 percent of Republicans.
One way would be a constitutional amendment, which would require two-thirds approval from both the House and Senate and ratification by the states, or a constitutional convention convened by two-thirds of the state legislators.
Without some improvements, the electorate hopes to reduce the importance of college law. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia, which together control 166 electoral ballots, have signed an interstate agreement in which they promise to cast their vote for the winner of the national popular vote. Local laws will only take effect once there are enough states in the compact for a total of 270 election votes.
Professor Wehl said that, in the end, the election-related case could find a way to reach the Supreme Court, which would give more importance to the judicial composition of the court, Professor Wehl said.
“It only takes five people with a lifetime to actually amend the constitution by judicial opinion,” he said.
