Electoral College (United States) Electoral votes by state/federal district, for the elections of 2004 and 2008 Electoral College map showing the results of the 2008 US presidential election. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) won the popular vote in 28 states and the District of Columbia (de- noted in blue) to capture 365 electoral votes. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) won the popular vote in 22 states (denoted in red) to capture 173 electoral votes. Nebraska split its elect- oral vote when Senator Obama won Neb- raska’s 2CD electoral vote; the state’s other four electoral votes went to McCain. The Electoral College consists of the pop- ularly elected representatives (electors) who formally elect the President and Vice Presid- ent of the United States. Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each presidential election.[1] Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution specifies how many electors each state is entitled to have and that each state’s legislature decides how its electors are to be chosen; U.S. territories are not rep- resented in the Electoral College. The Elect- oral College is an example of an indirect election. Cartogram representation of the Electoral College vote for the 2008 election, with each square representing one electoral vote. Rather than directly voting for the Presid- ent and Vice President, United States citizens vote for electors. Electors are technically free to vote for anyone eligible to be President, but in practice pledge to vote for specific candidates[2] and voters cast ballots for favored presidential and vice presidential candidates by voting for correspondingly pledged electors.[3] The Twelfth Amendment provides for each elector to cast one vote for President and one vote for Vice President. It also specifies how a President and Vice President are elected. Critics argue the Electoral College is in- herently undemocratic and gives certain swing states disproportionate clout in select- ing the President and Vice President. Pro- ponents argue that the Electoral College is an important and distinguishing feature of federalism in the United States and protects the rights of smaller states. Numerous consti- tutional amendments have been introduced in the Congress seeking a replacement of the Electoral College with a direct popular vote; however, no proposal has ever passed the Congress. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 1 Background At the Constitutional Convention, the deleg- ates used the Virginia Plan as the basis for discussions, as the Virginia delegation had proposed it first. The Virginia Plan called for the Executive to be elected by the Legis- lature.[4] Delegates from a majority of states agreed to this mode of election.[5] However, the Committee of Eleven, formed to work out various details including the mode of election of the President, recommended instead that the election be by a group of people appor- tioned among the states in the same numbers as their representatives in Congress (the for- mula for which had been resolved in lengthy debates resulting in the Connecticut Com- promise and Three-fifths compromise), but chosen by each state "in such manner as its Legislature may direct." Committee member Gouverneur Morris explained the reasons for the change; among others, there were fears of "intrigue" if the President was chosen by a small group of men who met together regu- larly, as well as concerns for the independ- ence of the President if he was elected by the Congress.[6] Though some delegates pre- ferred popular election, the Convention ap- proved the Committee’s proposal, with minor modifications, on September 6, 1787.[7] Origin of name Although the United States Constitution refers to "Electors" or "electors" regarding the Electoral College, the name "Electoral College"—or any other name—is never used to describe the collective vote of the electors. It was not until the early 1800s that the name "Electoral College" came into general usage as the collective designation for the electors selected to cast votes for President and Vice President. It was first written into federal law in 1845 and today the term appears in 3 U.S.C. § 4, in the section heading and in the text as "college of electors."[8] Original plan Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitu- tion states: Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senat- ors and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Con- gress: but no Senator or Represent- ative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector. Article II, Section 1, Clause 4 of the Constitu- tion states: The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States. Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 of the Constitu- tion provided for the original fashion by which the President and Vice President were to be chosen by the electors. Unlike the present system, each elector voted for two people for President, rather than one vote for President and one vote for Vice President. To become President, a candidate had to have more votes than any other and must have re- ceived votes from a majority of the electors. After the choosing of the President, the per- son with the most electoral votes among the remaining candidates would become the Vice President. If no one received a majority of the votes, the decision would be made by the House of Representatives. The design of the Electoral College was based upon several assumptions and anticip- ations of the Framers of the Constitution: 1. Each state would employ the district system of allocating electors. 2. Each presidential elector would exercise independent judgment when voting. 3. Candidates would not pair together on the same ticket with assumed placements toward each office of President and Vice President. 4. The system as designed would rarely produce a winner, thus sending the election to Congress.[9] On these facts, scholars have described the intended role of the Electoral College as simply a body that would nominate candid- ates from which the Congress would then se- lect a President and Vice President.[10] Under the original plan for the Electoral College, each state government was free to have its own plan for selecting its electors. Several different methods emerged and are described at length below. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 2 Breakdown and revision The emergence of political parties and na- tionally coordinated election campaigns soon complicated matters in the elections of 1796 and 1800. In 1796, the winner of the election was John Adams, a member of the Federalist Party. The runner up, and therefore the new Vice President, was Thomas Jefferson of the opposition Democratic-Republican Party. In 1800, the candidates of the Democratic- Republican Party (Jefferson for President and Aaron Burr for Vice President) each tied for first place. However, since all electoral votes were for President, Burr’s votes were tech- nically for him being President even though he was his party’s second choice. Jefferson was so hated by Federalists that the party members sitting in the lame duck Congress tried to elect Burr. The Congress deadlocked for 35 ballots as neither candidate received the necessary majority vote of the state del- egations in the House (the votes of nine states were needed for an election). Only after Federalist Party leader Alexander Hamilton—who disliked Burr much more than Jefferson—made known his preference for Jefferson was the issue resolved on the 36th ballot. In response to those elections, the Con- gress proposed the Twelfth Amend- ment—with electors casting one vote for President and one vote for Vice President—to replace the system outlined in Article II, Sec- tion 1, Clause 3. The Twelfth Amendment was proposed in 1803 and was adopted in 1804. Electoral College mechanics The constitutional theory behind the indirect election of both the President and Vice Pres- ident of the United States is that while the Congress is popularly elected by the people,[11] the President and Vice President are elected to be executives of a federation of independent states. In the Federalist Papers No. 39, James Madison argued that the Constitution was de- signed to be a mixture of state-based and population-based government. The Congress would have two houses: the state-based Sen- ate and the population-based House of Representatives. Meanwhile, the President would be elected by a mixture of the two modes.[12] Additionally, in the Federalist Papers No. 10, James Madison argued against "an inter- ested and overbearing majority" and the "mischiefs of faction" in an electoral system. He defined a faction as "a number of citizens whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of in- terest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community." Republican government (i.e., federalism, as opposed to direct demo- cracy), with its varied distribution of voter rights and powers, would countervail against factions. Madison further postulated in the Federalist No. 10 that the greater the popula- tion and expanse of the Republic, the more difficulty factions would face in organizing due to such issues as sectionalism.[13] Summary Presidential electors are selected on a state- by-state basis, as determined by the laws of each state. Each state currently uses its statewide popular vote on Election Day to ap- point electors. Although ballots list the names of the presidential candidates, voters within the 50 states and Washington, D.C. ac- tually choose electors for their state when they vote for President and Vice President. These presidential electors in turn cast elect- oral votes for those two offices. Even though the aggregate national popular vote is calcu- lated by state officials and media organiza- tions, the national popular vote is not the basis for electing a President or Vice President. A candidate must receive an absolute ma- jority of electoral votes (currently 270) to win the Presidency. If no candidate receives a majority in the election for President, or Vice President, that election is determined via a contingency procedure in the Twelfth Amend- ment, which is explained in detail below. Apportionment of electors Further information: United States congres- sional apportionment The size of the Electoral College is equal to the total membership of both Houses of Con- gress (435 Representatives and 100 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 3 Senators) plus the three electors allocated to Washington, D.C., totaling 538 electors. Each state is allocated as many electors as it has Representatives and Senators in the United States Congress.[14][15] Since the most populous states have the most seats in the House of Representatives, they also have the most electors. The six states with the most electors are California (55), Texas (34), New York (31), Florida (27), Illinois (21) and Pennsylvania (21). The seven smallest states by population—Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming—have three electors each. The number of Representatives for each state is determined decennially by the United States Census, thus determining the number of electoral votes for each state until the next Census reallocation. Under the Twenty-third Amendment, Washington, D.C. is allocated as many elect- ors as it would have if it were a state, but no more electors than the least populous state. The least populous state (Wyoming) has three electors; thus, D.C. cannot have more than three electors. Even if D.C. were a state, its current population would entitle it to three electors; based on its population per elector- al vote, D.C. has the second highest per-cap- ita Electoral College representation, after Wyoming.[16] Nomination of electors Candidates for elector are nominated by their state political parties in the months prior to Election Day. The Constitution delegates to each state the authority for nominating and choosing its electors. In some states, the electors are nominated in primaries, the same way that other candidates are nomin- ated. Other states, such as Oklahoma, Virgin- ia, and North Carolina nominate electors in party conventions. In Pennsylvania, the cam- paign committees of each candidate name their candidates for presidential elector (an attempt to discourage faithless electors). Disqualification of electors Under Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, no person holding a federal office, either elected or appointed, may become an elector.[17] Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, any person who has sworn an oath to support the United States Constitution in order to hold either a state or federal office, and has then later re- belled against the United States, is barred from serving in the Electoral College. However, the Congress may remove this dis- ability by a two-thirds vote in each House. Election Day Federal law sets the Tuesday following the first Monday in November as the day for holding federal elections.[18] Each state’s legislature determines how its electors are to be chosen.[19] Currently, all states choose electors by popular election on the date specified by federal law. Forty eight states, and Washington, D.C., employ the winner-takes-all method, each awarding its electors as a single bloc. Two states, Maine and Nebraska, select one elector with- in each congressional district by popular vote, and additionally select the remaining two electors by the aggregate, statewide pop- ular vote. This method has been used in Maine since 1972 and in Nebraska since 1992. The current system of choosing electors is called the "short ballot." In all states, voters choose among slates of candidates for the as- sociated elector; only a few states list the names of the electors on the ballot. In some states, if a voter wishes to write in a candid- ate for President, the voter also is required to write-in the names of candidates for elector. Meetings of electors Electors chosen on Election Day meet in their respective state capitals (or in the case of Washington, D.C., within the District) on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December, at which time they cast their electoral votes on separate ballots for Presid- ent and Vice President. The Electoral College never meets as one body. Although procedures in each state vary slightly, the electors generally follow a simil- ar series of steps, and the Congress has con- stitutional authority to regulate the proced- ures the states follow. The meeting is opened by the election certification official—often each state’s Secretary of State or equival- ent—who reads the Certificate of Ascertain- ment. This document sets forth who was chosen to cast the electoral votes. Those present answer to their name, and they then fill any vacancies in their number. The next step is the selection of a president or From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 4 Certificate for the electoral vote for Ruther- ford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler for the State of Louisiana chairman of the meeting, sometimes also with a vice chairman. The electors sometimes choose a secretary, often not himself an elector, to take the minutes of the meeting. In many states, political officials give short speeches at this point in the proceedings. When the time for balloting arrives, the electors choose one or two people to act as tellers. Some states provide for the placing in nomination of a candidate to receive the electoral votes (the candidate for President of the political party of the electors). Each elect- or submits a written ballot with the name of a candidate for President. In New Jersey, the electors cast ballots by checking the name of the candidate on a pre-printed card; in North Carolina, the electors write the name of the candidate on a blank card. The tellers count the ballots and announce the result. The next step is the casting of the vote for Vice Presid- ent, which follows a similar pattern. After the voting is complete, the electors complete the Certificate of Vote. This document states the number of electoral votes cast for President and Vice President and who received those votes. The state elec- tion official usually has pre-printed forms ready and the tellers usually only write down the number of votes cast for appropriate can- didates. Five copies of the Certificate of Vote are completed and signed by each elector. Multiple copies of the Certificate of Vote are signed, in order to provide multiple originals in case one is lost. One copy is sent to the President of the U.S. Senate (the sitting Vice President of the United States) by certified mail. A staff member of the Vice President col- lects the Certificates of Vote as they arrive and prepares them for the joint session of the Congress. The Certificates are arranged—un- opened—in alphabetical order and placed in two special mahogany boxes. Alabama through Missouri (including Washington, D.C.) are placed in one box and Montana through Wyoming are placed in the other box. Faithless electors A faithless elector is one who casts an elect- oral vote for someone other than whom they have pledged to elect, or who refuses to vote for any candidate. There are laws to punish faithless electors in 24 states. In 1952, the constitutionality of state pledge laws was brought before the Supreme Court in Ray v. Blair, 343 U.S. 214 (1952). The Court ruled in favor of state laws requiring electors to pledge to vote for the winning candidate, as well as removing electors who refuse to pledge. As stated in the ruling, electors are acting as a functionary of the state, not the federal government. Therefore, states have the right to govern electors. The constitution- ality of state laws punishing electors for actu- ally casting a faithless vote, rather than re- fusing to pledge, has never been decided by the Supreme Court. While many states may only punish a faithless elector after-the-fact, some such as Michigan specify that his or her vote shall be cancelled.[20] As electoral slates are typically chosen by the political party or the party’s presidential nominee, electors usually have high loyalty to the party and its candidate: a faithless elect- or runs a greater risk of party censure than criminal charges. Faithless electors have not changed the outcome of any presidential election to date. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 5 For example, in 2000 elector Barbara Lett Simmons of Washington, D.C. chose not to vote, rather than voting for Al Gore as she had pledged to do. This was done as an act of protest against Washington, D.C.’s lack of congressional voting representation.[21] That elector’s abstention did not change who won that year’s presidential election, as George W. Bush received a majority (271) of the electoral votes. Joint session of Congress and the contingent election The Twelfth Amendment mandates that the Congress assemble in joint session to count the electoral votes and declare the winners of the election.[22] The session is ordinarily re- quired to take place on January 6 in the cal- endar year immediately following the meet- ings of the presidential electors;[23] however, for 2009 only, the law calls for it to take place on January 8.[24][25] The meeting is held at 1:00 p.m. in the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representat- ives.[23] The sitting Vice President is expec- ted to preside, but in several cases the Pres- ident pro tempore of the Senate has chaired the proceedings instead. The Vice President and the Speaker of the House sit at the podi- um, with the Vice President in the seat of the Speaker of the House. Senate pages bring in the two mahogany boxes containing each state’s certified vote and place them on tables in front of the Senators and Represent- atives. Each house appoints two tellers to count the vote. Relevant portions of the Cer- tificate of Vote are read for each state, in al- phabetical order. If there are no objections, the presiding officer declares the result of the vote and, if applicable, states who is elec- ted President and Vice President. The Senat- ors then depart from the House Chamber. Contingent presidential election by House Pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment, the House of Representatives is required to go into session immediately to vote for President if no candidate for President receives a ma- jority of the electoral votes (since 1964, 270 of the 538 electoral votes). In this event, the House of Representat- ives is limited to choosing from among the three candidates who received the most electoral votes. Each state delegation votes en bloc - its members have a single vote col- lectively (and the District of Columbia does not receive a vote). A candidate must receive an absolute majority of state delegation votes (currently 26) in order for that candidate to become the President-elect. Additionally, del- egations from at least two-thirds of all the states must be present for voting to take place. The House continues balloting until it elects a President. The House of Representatives has chosen the President only twice: once under Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 (in 1801) and once un- der the Twelfth Amendment (in 1825). Contingent vice presidential election by Senate If no candidate for Vice President receives an absolute majority of electoral votes, then the Senate must go into session to elect a Vice President. The Senate is limited to choosing from only the top two candidates to have re- ceived electoral votes (one fewer than the number to which the House is limited). The Senate votes in the normal manner in this case (i.e., ballots are individually cast by each Senator, not by state delegations). However, two-thirds of the Senators must be present for voting to take place. Additionally, the Twelfth Amendment states that a "majority of the whole number" of Senators (currently 51 of 100) is necessary for election.[26] The Constitution is not expli- cit about whether the President of the Senate can vote to break a tie and legal scholars dif- fer on the point.[27] The only time the Senate chose the Vice President was in 1837. In that instance, the Senate adopted an alphabetical roll call and voting aloud. The rules further stated, "[I]f a majority of the number of Senators shall vote for either the said Richard M. Johnson or Francis Granger, he shall be declared by the presiding officer of the Senate constitution- ally elected Vice President of the United States..."[28] Deadlocked chambers If the House of Representatives has not chosen a President-elect in time for the in- auguration (noon on January 20), then Sec- tion 3 of the Twentieth Amendment specifies that the Vice President-elect becomes Acting President until the House should select a President. If the winner of the vice presiden- tial election is also not known by then, then From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 6 Methods of Presidential Elector selection, by state, 1789-1832[29] Year AL CT DE GA IL IN KY LA ME MD MA MS MO NH NJ NY NC OH PA RI SC TN VT V 1789 - L D L - - - - - A H - - H L - - - A - L - - D 1792 - L L L - - D - - A H - - H L L L - A L L - L D 1796 - L L A - - D - - D H - - H L L D - A L L H L D 1800 - L L L - - D - - D L - - L L L D - L A L H L A 1804 - L L L - - D - - D D - - A A L D A A A L D L A 1808 - L L L - - D - - D L - - A A L D A A A L D L A 1812 - L L L - - D L - D D - - A L L L A A A L D L A 1816 - L L L - L D L - D L - - A A L A A A A L D L A 1820 L A L L D L D L D D D A L A A L A A A A L D L A 1824 A A L L D A D L D D A A D A A L A A A A L D L A 1828 A A L A A A A A D D A A A A A D A A A A L D A A 1832 A A A A A A A A A D A A A A A A A A A A L A A A Year AL CT DE GA IL IN KY LA ME MD MA MS MO NH NJ NY NC OH PA RI SC TN VT V Key A Popular vote, At- large D Popular vote, Districting L Legislative selection H Hybrid system under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, the sitting Speaker of the House would become Acting President until either the House should select a President or the Sen- ate should select a Vice President. None of these situations has ever occurred. Alternative methods of choosing electors Before the advent of the short ballot in the early twentieth century, as described above, the most common means of electing the pres- idential electors was through the general ticket. The general ticket is quite similar to the current system and is often confused with it. In the general ticket, voters cast ballots for individuals running for presidential elect- or (while in the short ballot, voters cast bal- lots for an entire slate of electors). In the general ticket, the state canvass would re- port the number of votes cast for each can- didate for elector, a complicated process in states like New York with multiple positions to fill. Both the general ticket and the short ballot are often considered at-large or winner-takes-all voting. The short ballot was adopted by the various states at different times; it was adopted for use by North Caro- lina and Ohio in 1932. Alabama was still us- ing the general ticket as late as 1960 and was one of the last states to switch to the short ballot. The question of the extent to which state constitutions may constrain the legislature’s choice of a method of choosing electors has been touched on in two U.S. Supreme Court cases. In McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U.S. 1 (1892), the Court cited Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 which states that a state’s electors are selected "in such manner as the legis- lature thereof may direct" and wrote that these words "operat[e] as a limitation upon the state in respect of any attempt to circum- scribe the legislative power." In Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, 531 U.S. 70 (2000), a Florida Supreme Court decision was vacated (not reversed) based on McPher- son. On the other hand, three dissenting justices in Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), wrote: "nothing in Article II of the Federal Constitution frees the state legislature from the constraints in the State Constitution that created it."[30] Appointment by state legislature An early method of choosing electors was se- lection by the state legislature. It was used by a majority of the states in both 1792 and 1800, and half of the states in 1812.[31] One of the reasons that most United States his- tory textbooks don’t start reporting the From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 7 popular vote until the election of 1824 is be- cause more than a quarter of all the states used legislative choice in all prior elections; there simply was no popular vote for Presid- ent in those states. Even in 1824, when Andrew Jackson famously accused John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay of a Corrupt Bargain because he lost in spite of having pluralities of both the popular and electoral votes, a full quarter of the states (6 of 24) did not hold popular elections for President and Vice President;[32] instead, those six state le- gislatures choose the electors that year. By the following election, only Delaware and South Carolina continued to use legislative choice.[32] Delaware ended its practice the following election (1832). South Carolina held on to legislative choice until it became the first state to secede in December 1860.[32] Legislative appointment made four more appearances on the electoral stage: • In 1848, Massachusetts’s law awarded the state’s electoral votes to the winner of the at-large popular vote, but only if that candidate won an absolute majority. When the vote produced no winner between the Democratic, Free Soil, and Whig parties, the state legislature selected the electors, giving all 12 electoral votes to the Whigs.[33] • In 1864, Nevada, having been made a state only a few days previously, had no choice but to appoint.[33] • In 1868, the newly reconstructed state of Florida appointed its electors, having been readmitted too late to hold elections.[33] • Finally, in 1876, the legislature of the newly admitted state of Colorado used legislative choice due to a lack of time and money to hold an election.[33] It was also a possibility in the 2000 election. Had the recounts continued, the Florida le- gislature was prepared to appoint the Repub- lican slate of electors to avoid missing the federal deadline for choosing electors.[34] The Constitution gives the power to the state legislatures to decide how electors are chosen[32] and it is easier and cheaper for a state legislature to simply appoint a slate of electors than to create a legislative frame- work for holding elections to determine the electors. As noted above, the two situations in which legislative choice has been used since the Civil War have both been because there was not enough time or money to prepare for an election. However, appoint- ment by state legislature has a serious flaw: legislatures can deadlock more easily than the electorate. In fact, this is precisely what happened in 1789, when New York failed to appoint any electors.[35] Electoral districts Another method used early in U.S. history was to divide the state into electoral districts. By this method, voters in each district would cast their ballots for the candidate they sup- ported and the winner in each district would receive that electoral vote. This was similar to how states are currently separated by con- gressional districts. However, the difference stems from the fact that every state always had two more electoral districts than con- gressional districts; as such, the electoral dis- tricts could not mirror the layout of the state’s congressional districts. As with con- gressional districts, moreover, this method is vulnerable to gerrymandering. All states had discarded this method of elector selection after 1832. However, this method reappeared in Michigan for the 1892 election.[33] Before the election, the Demo- cratic Party had gained control of Michigan’s state legislature and changed the method used from at-large popular voting to electoral district voting in order to capture at least a portion of the state’s electoral votes (at the time, Michigan tended to vote Republic- an).[33] The plan worked, and Michigan split its vote: nine votes for Republican Benjamin Harrison and five votes for Democrat Grover Cleveland. Once the Republican party re- gained control of the state legislature, the method of elector selection was switched back to at-large popular voting.[33] Congressional District Method The Congressional District Method (a.k.a., Maine-Nebraska Method) is an alternative way of distributing electoral votes within a state. In a winner-takes-all system, the win- ner of the statewide popular vote receives all of that state’s electoral votes. Under the Con- gressional District Method, the electoral votes are distributed based on the popular vote winner within each of the state’s indi- vidual congressional districts; additionally, the statewide popular vote winner receiving two additional electoral votes.[36] From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 8 The number of electoral votes allocated to each state is equal to the number of repres- entatives the state has in the Congress.[37] The two statewide-winner electoral votes are held to be equivalent to the two votes each state receives in the U.S. Senate. The districtwide-winner electoral votes are equi- valent to that district’s vote in the House of Representatives. Currently, only Maine and Nebraska use the Congressional District Method for distrib- uting their electoral votes. Maine has four electoral votes based on its two Representat- ives and two Senators. In Nebraska there are two Senators and three Representatives, giv- ing it five electoral votes.[38] Maine began its use of the Congressional District Method in the election of 1972. Nebraska has used the Congressional District Method since the elec- tion of 1992.[39][40] A recent call has been made by Nebraska Republicans to discard the Congressional District Method and return to the winner-takes-all system.[41] Such pre- vious calls for reform failed in the late 1990s.[41] The Congressional District Method allows for the chance for states to split their elector- al vote between multiple candidates. Before 2008, neither Maine nor Nebraska had ever split their electoral votes.[36] Nebraska split its electoral votes for the first time in 2008, giving John McCain its statewide electors and those of two congressional districts, while Barack Obama won the electoral vote of Neb- raska’s 2nd congressional district.[42] The Congressional District Method more closely reflects the one man, one vote prin- ciple than the current winner-takes-all sys- tem because an individual’s vote has a larger weight to it.[43] In addition, the Congression- al District Method can be more easily imple- mented than other alternatives to the winner- takes-all method. Each state need only pass legislation in order to use this method, in- stead of having to pass a constitutional amendment like some other Electoral College reform options.[43] However, the Congres- sional District Method has its downsides. For instance, candidates might only spend time in certain battleground districts instead of the entire state, and cases of gerrymandering could become exacerbated as political parties attempt to draw as many safe districts as they can.[44] This graphic demonstrates how the winner of the popular vote can still lose in a hypothetic- al electoral college system. Proportional vote Under such a system, electors would be se- lected in proportion to the votes cast for their candidate or party, rather than being selec- ted by the statewide plurality vote.[45] Contemporary conflict over the Electoral College Arguments between proponents and oppon- ents of the current electoral system conflate four separate but related topics: indirect election, disproportionate voting power by some states, the winner-takes-all distribution method (as chosen by 48 of the 50 states), and federalism. While arguments against the Electoral College should solely concern the possibility that indirect elections allow elect- ors to be potentially faithless, in common dis- cussion most of the concern focuses on the allocation of the voting power among the states. Arguments against the Electoral College Irrelevancy of national popular vote The elections of 1876, 1888 and 2000 pro- duced an Electoral College winner who did From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 9 These maps show the amount of attention given to each state by the Bush and Kerry campaigns during the final five weeks of the 2004 election. At the top, each waving hand represents a visit from a presidential or vice- presidential candidate during the final five weeks. At the bottom, each dollar sign rep- resents one million dollars spent on TV ad- vertising by the campaigns during the same time period. Population per Elector allocated to each of the 50 states and DC, ranked by population. For instance, 1=California, 2=Texas, 50=DC and 51=Wyoming. not receive the plurality of the nationwide popular vote. In 1824, there were six states in which electors were legislatively appointed rather than being popularly elected, so the true national popular vote is uncertain. When no candidate received a majority of electoral votes in 1824, the election was decided by Population per U.S. Representative allocated to each of the 50 states and DC, ranked by population. Since DC (ranked 50) receives no seats in the House, its bar is absent. the House of Representatives and thus could be considered distinct from the latter three elections in which all of the states had popu- lar selection of electors.[46] Opponents of the Electoral College claim that such outcomes do not logically follow the normative concept of how a democratic system should function. Outcomes of this sort are attributable to the federal nature of the system. From such a configuration, argue supporters of the Elect- oral College, candidates must build a popular base that is geographically broader and more diverse in voter interests. This feature is not a logical consequence of having intermediate elections of Presidents but rather the winner- takes-all method of allocating each state’s slate of electors with the exception of Maine and Nebraska. Allocation of electors in pro- portion to the state’s popular vote would re- duce this effect. Scenarios exhibiting this outcome typic- ally result when the winning candidate has won the requisite configuration of states (and thus their votes) by small margins while his opponent captured large voter margins in the remaining states. Given the year 2000 alloca- tion of electors, it is possible a candidate could win with only the hair’s width support of the 11 largest states. In such an example, the very large margins secured by the losing candidate in the other states would aggreg- ate to well over 50 percent of the ballots cast nationally. Claims that the Electoral College suppresses the "popular will" are therefore open to debate. A result of the present functionality of the Electoral College is that the national popular vote bears no legal or factual significance on determining the outcome of the election. Since the national popular vote is irrelevant, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 10 both voters and candidates are assumed to base their campaign strategies around the existence of the Electoral College; any close race has candidates campaigning to maxim- ize electoral votes by capturing coveted swing states, not to maximize national popu- lar vote totals. Focus on large swing states Most states use a winner-take-all system, in which the candidate with the most votes in that state receives all of the state’s electoral votes. This gives candidates an incentive to pay the most attention to states without a clear favorite, such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. For example, California, Texas, and New York, in spite of having the largest populations, have in recent elections been considered safe for a particular party (Democratic for California and New York; Re- publican for Texas), and therefore candidates typically devote relatively few resources, in both time and money, to such states. It is possible to win the election by win- ning eleven states and disregarding the rest of the country. If one ticket were to take Cali- fornia (55 votes), Texas (34), New York (31), Florida (27), Illinois (21), Pennsylvania (21), Ohio (20), Michigan (17), Georgia (15), New Jersey (15), and North Carolina (15), that ticket would have 271 votes, which would be enough to win. In the close elections of 2000 and 2004, these eleven states gave 111 votes to Republican candidate George W. Bush and 160 votes to Democratic candidates Al Gore and John Kerry. In 2008, the Democratic can- didate Barack Obama won nine of these elev- en states (for 222 electoral votes), with Re- publican John McCain taking a combined 49 electoral votes from Texas and Georgia. Proponents of the Electoral College claim that adoption of the popular vote would simply shift the disproportionate focus to large cities at the expense of rural areas.[47] Candidates might also be inclined to cam- paign hardest in their base areas to maximize turnout among core supporters, and ignore more closely divided parts of the country. Whether such developments would be good or bad is a matter of normative political the- ory and political interests of the voters in question. Discourages turnout and participation Except in the few closely fought swing states, it does not matter how many people turn out to vote. The Electoral College eliminates any advantage to a political party or campaign for encouraging voters to turn out, except in those swing states.[48] If the presidential election were decided by a national popular vote, in contrast, campaigns and parties would have a strong incentive to work to in- crease turnout everywhere.[49] Individuals would similarly have a strong incentive to persuade their friends and neighbors to turn out to vote. The differences in turnout between swing states and non-swing states under the current electoral college system suggest that replacing the Electoral College with direct election by popular vote would likely increase turnout and participation sig- nificantly.[48] Allows states to disenfranchise cit- izens without penalty If a state makes it harder for its citizens to vote, whether by making voting more diffi- cult, or by legally disfranchising some cit- izens (such as those convicted of felonies) from voting, and turnout in the state is re- duced as a result, the Electoral College insu- lates the state from being penalized. In fact, legal scholars Akhil Amar and Vikram Amar point out that the original compromise of the Electoral College was largely due to this very fact. Direct national election of the President (which was proposed by a delegate from Pennsylvania) would have enabled the North to outvote the South, because "the South would get no credit for its half-million slaves, none of whom, of course, would be able to vote. The electoral college system that ulti- mately emerged gave the South par- tial—three-fifths—credit for its slaves."[50] The states were thus allowed to disfranchise large numbers of citizens while maintaining the same influence in the Electoral College. Akhil and Vikram Amar note, "The founders’ system also encouraged the continued dis- franchisement of women. In a direct national election system, any state that gave women the vote would automatically have doubled its national clout. Under the Electoral Col- lege, however, a state had no such incentive to increase the franchise; as with slaves, what mattered was how many women lived in a state, not how many were empowered."[50] The Electoral College continues to insu- late states from losing any influence when they disfranchise or suppress the votes of From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 11 their citizens, whether through voter sup- pression, through making it more difficult or expensive to vote, or through actually taking away some citizens’ votes by law. "Even today, a state with low voter turnout gets precisely the same number of electoral votes as if it had a high turnout. By contrast, a well-designed direct election system could spur states to get out the vote."[50] Favors less populous states As a consequence of giving more per capita voting power to the less populated states, the Electoral College gives disproportionate power to those states’ interests. Democrats often assert that the Electoral College system favors the Republican Party by disproportion- ately boosting the electoral weight of the less populous states, which have tended historic- ally to vote Republican. In fact, on all three occasions that the electoral vote winner and popular vote winner has been different, the Republican party won the election. While this argument does apply to the 2000 election, it is debatable whether it helps to explain the 1876 and 1888 results, since in these cases the small states were more evenly divided. In one countervailing analysis, the Ban- zhaf Power Index (BPI) model based on prob- ability theory was used to test the hypothesis that citizens of small states accrue more elec- tion power. It was found that in 1990, indi- vidual voters in California, the largest state, had 3.3 times more individual power to choose a President than voters of Montana, the largest of the minimum 3 elector states.[51] Banzhaf’s method has been criti- cized for treating votes like coin-flips, and more empirically-based models of voting yield results which seem to favor larger states less.[52] Disadvantage for third parties In practice, the winner-take-all manner of al- locating a state’s electors generally de- creases the importance of minor parties.[53] Arguments in favor of the Elect- oral College Prevents an urban-centric victory Proponents of the Electoral College claim the Electoral College prevents a candidate from winning the Presidency by simply winning in heavily populated urban areas. This means that candidates must make a much wider ap- peal than they would if they simply had to win the national popular vote.[54] Maintains the federal character of the nation The United States of America is a federal co- alition which consists of component states. Proponents of the current system argue that the collective opinion of even a small state merits attention at the federal level greater than that given to a small, though numerically-equivalent, portion of a very pop- ulous state. The system also allows each state the freedom, within constitutional bounds, to design its own laws on voting and enfran- chisement without an undue incentive to maximize the number of votes cast. For many years early in the nation’s his- tory, up until the Jacksonian Era, many states appointed their electors by a vote of the state legislature, and proponents argue that, in the end, the election of the President must still come down to the decisions of each state, or the federal nature of the United States will give way to a single massive, centralized gov- ernment.[55] Enhances status of minority groups Far from decreasing the power of minority groups by depressing voter turnout, pro- ponents argue that, by making the votes of a given state an all-or-nothing affair, minority groups can provide the critical edge that al- lows a candidate to win. This encourages candidates to court a wide variety of such minorities and interest groups.[55] Encourages stability through the two- party system Many proponents of the Electoral College see its negative effect on third parties as a good thing. They argue that the two party system has provided stability through its ability to change during times of rapid political and cultural change. They believe it protects the most powerful office in the country from con- trol by what these proponents view as region- al minorities until they can moderate their views to win broad, long-term support from across the entire nation. Death or unsuitability of a candidate The Constitution grants each state the right to appoint electors in a manner chosen by that state. While it is common to think of the From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 12 electoral votes impersonally, as mere num- bers, the Electoral College is in fact made up of real people (usually party regulars of the party whose candidate wins each state) with the capacity to adapt to unusual situations. That capacity might be particularly important if, for example, a candidate were to die or be- come in some other way unsuitable to serve as President or Vice President. Advocates of the current system argue that these electors could then choose a suitable replacement (who would most likely come from the same party of the candidate who won the election) more competently than could the general vot- ing public. Furthermore, the time period dur- ing which such a death or the onset of such an unsuitability might call for such an adapt- ation extends, under the Electoral College system, from before Election Day (many states cannot change ballots at a late stage) until the day the electors vote (the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December). Thus, until the electors cast their votes, it is not a federal issue, per se, but a state’s rights issue and state laws (should) regulate the situation. In Virginia, for in- stance, the law clearly states that the elect- ors must vote for the name of the candidate whom they represent on the ballot, and therefore these electors are not able to adapt to unusual situations, unless they are willing to violate the law, and suffer the penalties for so doing. In the election of 1872, Democratic can- didate Horace Greeley did in fact die before the meeting of the Electoral College, result- ing in Democratic disarray; the electors who were to have voted for Greeley split their votes across several candidates, including three votes cast for the deceased Greeley. However, President Ulysses S. Grant, the Re- publican incumbent, had already won an ab- solute majority of electors. Because it was the death of a losing candidate, there was no pressure to agree on a replacement candid- ate. There has never been a case of a candid- ate of the winning party dying. In the election of 1912, after the Republic- ans had renominated President Taft and Vice President Sherman, Sherman died shortly be- fore the election, too late to change the names on the ballot, thus causing Sherman to be listed posthumously. That ticket finished third behind the Democrats (Woodrow Wilson) and the Progressives (Theodore Roosevelt), and the 8 electoral votes that Sherman would have received were cast for Nicholas Murray Butler. Isolation of election problems Some supporters of the Electoral College note that it isolates the impact of any election fraud, or other such problems, to the state where it occurs. It prevents instances where a party dominant in one state may dishon- estly inflate the votes for a candidate and thereby affect the election outcome. For in- stance, recounts occur only on a state-by- state basis, not nationwide.[56] Neutralizes turnout disparities between states There are factors that affect the turnout around the country. Weather can vary greatly across a large nation, rain or winter storms can impact voter participation in affected states. In addition, when a state has another high profile contest, such as a hotly con- tested Senate or gubernatorial race, turnout in that state can be affected. Because the al- location of electoral votes is independent of each state’s turnout, the Electoral College neutralizes the effect of all such turnout dis- parities between states. Maintains separation of powers The Constitution separated government into three branches that check each other to min- imize threats to liberty and encourage delib- eration of governmental acts. Under the ori- ginal framework, only members of the House of Representatives were directly elected by the people, with members of the Senate chosen by state legislatures, the President by the Electoral College, and the judiciary by the President and the Senate. The President was not directly elected in part due to fears that he could assert a national popular man- date that would undermine the legitimacy of the other branches, and potentially result in tyranny. National Popular Vote In- terstate Compact This proposal calls for an interstate compact whereby individual states agree to allocate their electors to the winner of the national popular vote. The state legislatures of the joining states would then establish a direct election, thereby effectively circumventing From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 13 the Electoral College, when they collectively have a majority (at least 270) of the electoral votes. The proposal is still 220 electoral votes short of going into effect. The proposal centers on Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, which gives each state legislature the author- ity to determine how its state’s electors are to be chosen. Many partial versions of this plan have emerged over the years. While the power of each State to determ- ine how it chooses its electors is clearly plen- ary, what remains unclear is whether such coordination between the States requires the approval of the Congress, pursuant to the Compact Clause of the Constitution, before this compact can take effect. Currently, four states have joined the com- pact. The first was Maryland, where Governor Martin O’Malley signed the bill into law on April 10, 2007.[57] New Jersey joined on January 13, 2008, despite objections from Republicans who criticized the bill as under- mining federal elections.[58] Illinois passed the law on April 7, 2008 [59] and was fol- lowed by Hawaii on May 1, where the legis- lature overrode a veto from Governor Linda Lingle.[60] The Bayh-Celler Amendment The closest the country has ever come to ab- olishing the Electoral College occurred dur- ing the 91st Congress.[61] The presidential election of 1968 had ended with Richard Nix- on receiving 301 electoral votes to Hubert Humphrey’s 191. Yet, Nixon had only re- ceived 511,944 more popular votes than Humphrey, equating to less than 1% of the national total. George Wallace received the remaining 46 electoral votes with only 13.5% of the popular vote.[62] Representative Emanuel Celler, Chairman of the US House of Representative’s Judiciary Committee responded to public concerns over the disparity between the popular vote and electoral vote by introducing House Joint Resolution 681, an Amendment to the United States Constitution which would have abol- ished the Electoral College and replaced it with a system wherein the pair of candidates who won at least 40% of the national popular vote would win the Presidency and Vice Pres- idency respectively. If no pair received 40% of the popular vote, a runoff election would be held in which the choice of President and Vice President would be made from the two pairs of persons who had received the highest number of votes in the first election. The word "pair" was defined as "two persons who shall have consented to the joining of their names as candidates for the offices of President and Vice President."[63] On April 29, 1969, the House Judiciary Committee voted favorably, 28–6, to approve the Amendment.[64] Debate on the proposed Amendment before the full House of Repres- entatives ended on September 11, 1969[65] and was eventually passed with bipartisan support on September 18, 1969, being ap- proved by a vote of 339 to 70.[66] On September 30, 1969, President Richard Nixon gave his endorsement for ad- option of the proposal, encouraging the Sen- ate to pass its version of the Amendment which had been sponsored as Senate Joint Resolution 1, by Senator Birch Bayh.[67] In its October 8, 1969 edition, the New York Times reported that the legislatures of 30 states were "either certain or likely to ap- prove a constitutional amendment embodying the direct election plan if it passes its final Congressional test in the Senate." Ratifica- tion of 38 state legislatures would have been needed for passage. The paper also reported that 6 other states had yet to state a prefer- ence, 6 were leaning toward opposition and 8 were solidly opposed.[68] On August 14, 1970, the Senate Judiciary Committee sent its report advocating pas- sage of the Amendment to the full Senate. The Judiciary Committee had approved the proposal by a vote of 11 to 6. The six mem- bers who opposed the plan, Democratic Sen- ators James Eastland of Mississippi, John Little McClellan of Arkansas and Sam Ervin of North Carolina along with Republican Sen- ators Roman Hruska of Nebraska, Hiram Fong of Hawaii and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, all argued that although the present system had potential loopholes, it had worked well throughout the years. Senat- or Bayh would indicate that supporters of the measure were about a dozen votes shy from the 67 needed for the Amendment to pass the full Senate. He called upon President Nixon to attempt to persuade undecided Republican Senators to support the plan.[69] However, Nixon, while not reneging on his previous From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 14 State EV State EV State EV State EV Alabama 9 Indiana 11 Nebraska 5** South Carolina 8 Alaska 3 Iowa 7 Nevada 5 South Dakota 3 Arizona 10 Kansas 6 New Hampshire 4 Tennessee 11 Arkansas 6 Kentucky 8 New Jersey 15 Texas 34 California 55 Louisiana 9 New Mexico 5 Utah 5 Colorado 9 Maine 4** New York 31 Vermont 3 Connecticut 7 Maryland 10 North Carolina 15 Virginia 13 Delaware 3 Massachusetts 12 North Dakota 3 Washington 11 Florida 27 Michigan 17 Ohio 20 West Virginia 5 Georgia 15 Minnesota 10 Oklahoma 7 Wisconsin 10 Hawaii 4 Mississippi 6 Oregon 7 Wyoming 3 Idaho 4 Missouri 11 Pennsylvania 21 Washington, D.C.* 3 Illinois 21 Montana 3 Rhode Island 4 Total electors 538 endorsement, chose not to make any further personal appeals to back the legislation.[70] Open debate on the Amendment finally reached the Senate floor on Tuesday, September 8, 1970,[71] but was quickly faced with a filibuster. The lead objectors to the Amendment were mostly Southern Senators and conservatives from small states, both Democrats and Republicans, who argued ab- olishing the Electoral College would reduce their states’ political influence.[70] On September 17, 1970, a motion for clo- ture, which would have ended the filibuster, failed to receive the 67 votes, or two-thirds of those Senators voting, necessary to pass.[72] The vote was 54 to 36 in favor of the mo- tion.[70] A second motion for cloture was held on September 29, 1970, this time failing 53 to 34, or five votes short of the required two- thirds. Thereafter, the Senate Majority Lead- er, Mike Mansfield of Montana, moved to lay the Amendment aside so that the Senate could attend to other business.[73] However, the Amendment was never considered again and died when the 91st Congress officially ended on January 3, 1971. Electoral vote distribution See also: Electoral vote changes between Un- ited States presidential elections The following table shows the number of electoral votes (EV) to which each state and the District of Columbia was entitled during Cartogram of results in 2004, 2008 and the swing between the two. Each square repres- ents one electoral vote. the 2004 and 2008 presidential elec- tions:[74][75] * Washington, D.C., although not a state, is granted three electoral votes by the Twenty-third Amendment. ** Maine and Nebraska electors distributed by way of the Congressional District Method. See also • Electoral college • Electoral vote changes between United States presidential elections • Every Vote Counts Amendment From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 15 • List of U.S. states by population • National Popular Vote Interstate Compact • United States presidential election • United States presidential election maps • List of United States presidential electors, 2008 • FiveThirtyEight.com Notes [1] The number of electors is equal to the total membership of the United States Congress (composed of 435 Representatives and 100 Senators) plus three electors from the District of Columbia. See Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution and the Twenty-third Amendment [2] Electors are not required by federal law to honor a pledge, however in the overwhelming majority of cases they do vote for the candidate to whom they are pledged. Additionally many states have laws designed to ensure that electors vote for pledged candidates. See The Green Papers [3] This process has been normalized to the point that the names of the electors appear on the ballot only in a handful of states. See The Green Papers [4] Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787: May 29 [5] Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787: June 2 [6] Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787: September 4 [7] Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787: September 6 [8] Federal Register [9] Chang, Stanley (2007). "Updating the Electoral College: The National Popular Vote Legislation". Harvard Journal on Legislation (Cambridge, MA: President and Fellows of Harvard College) 44 (205, at 208). [10]Berg-Andersson, Richard E. (September 17, 2000), "What Are They All Doing, Anyway?: An Historical Analysis of the Electoral College", The Green Papers, http://www.thegreenpapers.com/Hx/ ElectoralCollege.html [11]Prior to the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment, this only meant the House of Representatives. [12]The Federalist 39 [13]The Federalist Papers: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay The New American Library, 1961 [14]The present allotment of electors by state is shown in the Electoral vote distribution section. [15]The number of electors allocated to each state is based on Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution. [16]2006 Census estimates [17]Sabrina Eaton (October 29, 2004). "Brown learns he can’t serve as Kerry elector, steps down" (PDF). Cleveland Plain Dealer (reprint at Edison Research). http://www.edisonresearch.com/home/ archives/ ClevelandPlainDealer10-29-2004.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-01-03. [18]3 U.S.C. § 1 A uniform national date for presidential elections was not set until 1845, although Congress always had constitutional authority to do so. — Kimberling, William C. (1992) The Electoral College, p. 7 [19]United States Constitution, Article II, Section 1.: "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector." [20]Michigan Election Law Section 168.47 [21]The Green Papers [22] "The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted." Constitution of the United States: Amendments 11-27, National Archives and Records Administration [23]^ 3 U.S.C. § 15, Counting electoral votes in Congress [24] "The meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives to be held in January 2009 pursuant to section 15 of title 3, United States Code, to count the electoral votes for President and Vice President cast by the electors in December 2008 shall be held on January 8, 2009 (rather than on the date specified in the first sentence of that From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 16 section)." Pub.L. 110-430 (PDF) (October 15, 2008) [25]U.S. Electoral College, National Archives and Records Administration [26]RL30804: The Electoral College: An Overview and Analysis of Reform Proposals, L. Paige Whitaker and Thomas H. Neale, January 16, 2001 [27] "Election evolves into ’perfect’ electoral storm". USA Today. December 12, 2000. http://www.usatoday.com/news/ vote2000/storm.htm. Retrieved on September 20, 2008. [28]Senate Journal from 1837 [29]Moore, John L., ed. (1985), Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to U.S. Elections (2nd ed.), Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., p. 254-256 [30]Bush v. Gore, (Justice Stevens dissenting) (quote in second paragraph) [31]Moore, John L., ed. (1985), Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to U.S. Elections (2nd ed.), Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., p. 255 [32]^ Kolodny, Robin (1996). "The Several Elections of 1824". Congress & the Presidency (Washington, D.C.: American University) 23 (2). [33]^ Moore, John L., ed. (1985), Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to U.S. Elections (2nd ed.), Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., p. 266 [34]Legislative Action?, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, November 30, 2000 [35]Moore, John L., ed. (1985), Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to U.S. Elections (2nd ed.), Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., p. 254 [36]^ http://www.fandm.edu/x6441.xml [37]The Electoral College: How It Works in Contemporary Presidential Elections [38]President Elect - Articles - Upgrading The College [39]Methods of Choosing Presidential Electors [40] "Nebraska’s Vote Change." (April 7, 1991) The Washington Post [41]^ Molai, Nabil (2008-10-28). "Republicans Push to Change Electoral Vote System". KPTM Fox 42. http://www.kptm.com/Global/ story.asp?S=9255487&nav=menu606_2. Retrieved on 2008-11-04. [42]Tysver, Robynn (2008-11-07). "Obama wins electoral vote in Nebraska". Omaha World Herald. http://www.omaha.com/ index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=10481441. Retrieved on 2008-11-07. [43]^ http://www.dos.state.pa.us/ election_reform/lib/election_reform/ Electoral_College_Reform.pdf [44]The Electoral College - Reform Options [45]FairVote [46]Electoral College Mischief, The Wall Street Journal, September 8, 2004 [47]Hands Off the Electoral College by Rep. Ron Paul, MD, December 28, 2004 [48]^ Nivola, Pietro (January 2005), Thinking About Political Polarization, http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2005/ 01politics_nivola.aspx [49]Koza et al., John (2006), Every Vote Equal: A State-Based Plan for Electing the President by National Popular Vote, p. xvii, http://www.every-vote-equal.com/ files/Every-Vote-Equal.pdf [50]^ Amar, Akhil; Amar, Vikram (September 9, 2004), "The Electoral College Votes Against Equality", Los Angeles Times, http://www.law.yale.edu/news/2091.htm [51]Mark Livingston, Department of Computer Science. "Banzhaf Power Index". University of North Carolina. http://www.cs.unc.edu/~livingst/ Banzhaf/. [52]Gelman, Andrew; Katz, Jonathan (2002), "The Mathematics and Statistics of Voting Power", Statistical Science 17 (4): 420–435, doi:10.1214/ss/1049993201, http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/ research/published/STS027.pdf [53]Third Parties? by Jerry Fresia, February 28, 2006 [54]Why the Electoral College, P. Andrew Sandlin, December 13, 2000 [55]^ Kimberling, William C. (May 1992). "The Electoral College" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. http://www.fec.gov/pdf/eleccoll.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-01-03. [56]http://www.psych.cornell.edu/Darlington/ electorl.htm [57]Dropping out of the electoral college, CNN.COM, April 10, 2007 [58] "Trenton: State Backs Electoral College Change", New York Times, January 14, 2008, Page B5 [59]About Governor Blagojevich’s signing of HB 1685. [60]About veto override in Hawaii From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Electoral College (United States) 17 [61]For a more detailed account of this proposal read The Politics of Electoral College Reform by Lawrence D. Longley and Alan G. Braun (1972) [62]1968 Electoral College Results, National Archives and Records Administration [63] "Text of Proposed Amendment on Voting", The New York Times, April 30, 1969, page 21 [64] "House Unit Votes To Drop Electors" The New York Times, April 30, 1969, page 1 [65] "Direct Election of President Is Gaining in the House", The New York Times, September 12, 1969, page 12 [66] "House Approves Direct Election of The President," The New York Times, September 19, 1969, page 1 [67] "Nixon Comes Out For Direct Vote On Presidency," The New York Times, October 1, 1969, page 1 [68] "A Survey Finds 30 Legislatures Favor Direct Vote For President," The New York Times, October 8, 1969, page 1 [69] "Bayh Calls for Nixon’s Support As Senate Gets Electoral Plan", The New York Times, August 15, 1970, page 11 [70]^ "Senate Refuses To Halt Debate On Direct Voting," The New York Times, September 18, 1970, page 1 [71] "Senate Debating Direct Election", The New York Times, September 9, 1970, page 10 [72]The Senate reduced the required vote from two-thirds to three-fifths (i.e., 60 vote). See United States Senate website. [73] "Senate Puts Off Direct Vote Plan," The New York Times, September 30, 1970, page 1 [74]U.S. National Archives and Records Administration [75]Prior to the 2012 election, each state’s electoral vote total may be changed based on the results of the 2010 Census and the subsequent congressional re- apportionment. External links • U.S. Electoral College FAQ (www.archives.gov) • Historical Documents on the Electoral College • Electoral Vote • A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825 • FiveThirtyEight: Electoral Projections Done Right • 270 to win • Winning The Electoral College • Electoral Map Calculator • PredictNovember.com • "Math Against Tyranny" • H.J.RES.4 (proposed constitutional amendment to replace Electoral College with direct popular election of President and Vice President) • The Green Papers: More detailed description of reform proposals • http://fpc.state.gov/documents/ organization/28109.pdf • Office of the Federal Register • Joint Session of the 111th Congress for the purpose of certifying the Electoral College ballot count, January 9, 2009 (C- Span video) Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_(United_States)" Categories: 1789 establishments, Federalism, Government of the United States, History of the United States, Legislative branch of the United States government, Politics of the United States, Presidency of the United States, United States Electoral College, United States House of Representatives, United States Senate This page was last modified on 18 May 2009, at 03:07 (UTC). 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