Hannah Tobin

Comparative Politics
Electoral College Paper
Professor Onyeji
March 10, 2016

Electoral College
The electoral college is used constantly when it comes to
presidential elections in the united states, but what is the
electoral college exactly? Well the electoral college is a body of
people representing the states of the U.S. who formally cast votes
for the election of president and the vice president or the simpler
version of it is that a body of electors chosen or appointed by a
large group.
The electoral college is made up of 538 electors who cast
their votes on to decide who in their opinion to their state
individually should be the next president and vice president.
When the voters go to the polls to vote they are choosing which
candidate receives their states electors. The candidate who ends

up with the majority of electoral votes or 270 of the votes then

wins the presidency. The number 538 is the sum of the nations
453 representatives, 100 senators, and 3 electors given to the
district of Columbia.
Now how does the electoral college exactly work, well for
instance this process is quit simple really because basically all it is
that every four years voters go out to the polls and select a
candidate to become the new president and vice president of the
united states. In all but two states the candidate who wins the
majority of the votes in a state wins the state electoral votes. In
Nebraska and Maine the electoral votes are assigned by the
proportional representation. Which means that the top vote getter
in those states win two electoral votes while the remaining
electoral votes are allocated congressional district by the
congressional district. These rules make it possible for both
candidates to receive electoral votes from Nebraska and Maine
unlike the winner takes all system in the other 48 states.
The next important thing to know about the electoral college
is how the electors are selected. This process varies from state to

state. Political parties usually nominate electors at their state

conventions. Sometimes this process occurs by a vote of the
partys central committee. The electors are usually state elected
officials, party leaders or people with a strong affiliation with the
presidential candidates.
Another important piece of information to know is when the
electoral college cast its votes. Each states electors meet on the
Monday following the second Wednesday of December. They each
cast their votes at that time. Then those votes are sent to the
president of the senate. Which then the president of the senate
reads them before both houses of congress on January 6 th.
One other fact of information that is a key factor to the
electoral college is the simple fact that even though a candidate
may win the popular vote doesnt necessarily mean that they won
the electoral vote or the election. However most likely if you dont
win the electoral vote than sadly for you as the candidate you
dont always win the election. An example of this is when George
W. Bush lost the popular vote to AL Gore by 51% but then won the

electoral college vote 271 to 266, eventually then becoming the

president of the united states.
Finally, why does the electoral college matter. For starters
the electoral college determines the president and vice president
of the United States. The Electoral College system also
distinguishes the United States from other systems where the
highest vote-getter automatically wins. This so-called "indirect
election" process has been the subject of criticism and attempted
reform, though proponents of it maintain that it ensures the rights
of smaller states and stands as an important piece of American
federalist democracy.
In Conclusion, the electoral college has lots of importance to
it when it comes down to determining who our president and vice
president will be. Not only that it its a long well developed
process that makes it fair as a whole in our nation when it comes
to voting. Overall the electoral college does it job pretty well
considering the long devise process it goes through to get the
president appointed at the end of the process.