8.10 (Electoral College)

8.10 (Electoral College)

1. The Electoral College System

   • They reached a compromise that instead of Congress or the people, the Electoral College would elect the government's leaders.
   • The Electoral College is made up of electors who cast votes to elect the president and vice president every four years
   • Each state has as many electors in the Electoral College as the number of senators and representatives it sends to Congress.
   • The votes cast by electors are called electoral votes
   • Delegates left the method of choosing electors up to each state. Before 1820, state legislatures chose electors in most states. Now we vote our state's electors when voting in presidential elections. Electors cast their ballots for president and vice president on a date chosen by Congress.
   • Originally, electors voted for two candidates without saying which one they preferred for president or vice president. The candidate receiving the most votes became president. The runner-up became vice president. This system caused great confusion in the election of 1800 and was later changed.

2. Political Parties and Elections

   • Now with fast ways of communication, the concern that voters would not know enough about candidates outside their own state to choose a president wisely is hard to understand.
   • The delegates didn't predict the rise of national political parties. Within a few years of the convention, political parties were nominating candidates for president and educating voters in every state about those candidates.
   • In most states, the candidate who gets the most votes—even if less than a majority— wins all of that state's electoral votes. As a result, a candidate can win a majority in the Electoral College without necessarily winning a majorityof the votes cast across the country.