Electorak College Stacked Agains Dem Huffing Post

Please Annotation: NCSL does non take the names of the individual presidential electors in each country, nor does NCSL have their contact information. You must contact either your state'south election officials or political parties for data.

Overview

The Electoral College is a unique method for indirectly electing the president of the United states of america. It was established by Article II, Section 1, Clause ii of the U.S. Constitution and modified by the 12^th and 23^rd Amendments.

The Electoral College consists of a total of 538 members, i for each U.S. senator and representative, and three additional electors representing the District of Columbia. Each country has a number of electoral votes equal to the combined total of its congressional delegation, and each state legislature is complimentary to determine the method it will use to select its own electors.

Currently, all states select electors through a pop vote (although how that vote works can differ), but that was not always the case throughout American history. In many states, the country legislature selected electors, a practice which was mutual until the mid-1800s.

The Balloter College in 2020

The following is a summary of how the Electoral Higher will piece of work in the 2022 presidential election:

• Spring and Summer 2020:Nomination of Electors. The political parties in each state nominate their electors. Parties and states have different ways of going nearly this, merely a party'south presidential electors are mostly loyal or consistent party members. The parties want to exist sure they tin can rely on their electors to cast their votes for the party's nominee for president.
• Nov. 3, 2020:Election Day, when voters in each state will select their presidential electors. The names of electors are non on the ballot in most states. Rather, when a voter casts a vote for a presidential candidate, s/he is likewise casting a vote for the electors already selected by the political party of that candidate. If a majority of voters in a land vote for the Republican candidate for president, the Republican slate of electors is elected. If a majority vote for the Autonomous candidate, the Democratic slate of electors is called.
• December. 8, 2020:Deadline for Resolving Ballot Disputes. All country recounts and courtroom contests over presidential election results must be completed by this engagement. (iii U.s.a.C. § five). For the majority of states the date of certification is the same as for all contests, but in eight states there is a deadline that either straight references 3 USC §5 or uses similar language, requiring that disputes surrounding the option of presidential electors be resolved in time to meet the "safe harbor" borderline: Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey, N Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. For detailed information on state post-election processes, please visit this folio.
• Dec. xiv, 2020:Meeting of the Electors. The electors meet in each state and bandage their ballots for president and vice president. Each elector votes on his or her own ballot and signs it. The ballots are immediately transmitted to various people: 1 copy goes to the president of the U.S. Senate (who is also the vice president of the United States); this is the copy that will exist officially counted later. Other copies get to the country's secretary of state, the National Archives and Records Administration, and the presiding gauge in the district where the electors meet (this serves equally a backup copy that would supersede the official re-create sent to the president of the Senate if information technology is lost or destroyed).
• Dec. 23, 2020: Deadline for Receipt of Ballots. The electors' ballots from all states must be received by the president of the Senate by this engagement. There is no penalty for missing this deadline.
• Jan. half dozen, 2021:Counting of the Balloter Ballots. The U.S. Congress meets in articulation session to count the electoral votes.
• January. 20, 2021:Inauguration Day.  The president-elect becomes the president of the United States.

Nomination of Electors

The U.S. Constitution does non specify procedures for the nomination of candidates for presidential elector. The two most common methods the states have adopted are nomination by state party convention and by state political party commission. Mostly, the parties select members known for their loyalty and service to the political party, such as party leaders, country and local elected officials and party activists. In some states, the electors' names announced on the ballot forth with the names of the candidates for president and vice president. Notwithstanding, in most states, electors' names are not printed on the ballot. When a voter casts a vote for a candidate for President of the Usa, s/he is in actuality casting a vote for the presidential electors who were selected by that candidate's political party.

Awarding Electoral Votes

All 50 states and the Commune of Columbia use i of 2 methods for awarding their balloter votes:

The Winner-Have-All Organisation

In 48 states and the District of Columbia, when a candidate for president wins a country'south pop vote, that party's slate of electors volition be the ones to bandage the vote for president of the United states in December. For example, Florida has 29 electoral votes. If President Donald Trump wins the state'due south popular vote on Nov. 3, the 29 electors nominated by the Republican Political party in Florida will be selected. These 29 people will gather on December. 14 to cast their votes for president of the Us.

The Commune Arrangement

Maine and Nebraska are the simply states that practice not use a winner-accept-all system. Instead, in these two states, one electoral vote is awarded to the presidential candidate who wins the pop vote in each congressional district, and the remaining two balloter votes are awarded to the candidates receiving the most votes statewide. This is known as the district organization. It is possible nether the district arrangement to separate the electoral vote for the state. This happened in 2008 in Nebraska: Barack Obama won the electoral vote in the congressional district including Omaha, while John McCain won in the state's other two districts and won the statewide vote likewise, securing the state's two at-large votes. Thus, when the Nebraska presidential electors met in December 2008, at that place were 4 Republican electors and ane Democrat. That election was the first time Nebraska's electoral vote was split.

Proposed Changes to the Electoral College

In the years since the highly controversial 2000 presidential election, bills accept been introduced in every state in the country to change the process for selecting electors. During the period of 2001-2006, almost Electoral College reform bills proposed switching to the commune system. None of these bills passed. In the years since, attention has largely shifted to the National Pop Vote (NPV). This is an idea that would allow states to bypass the Electoral Higher without amending the U.Due south. Constitution. When a state joins the NPV Compact, it promises that it will give all of its electoral votes to the political party that wins thenational popular vote, rather than the political party that wins thestate popular vote. For instance, if the Democratic candidate won the pop vote in California, but the Republican candidate won the popular vote nationwide, California would be required to send the Republican slate of electors to the meeting of the electors. The NPV has not notwithstanding taken consequence; states with a full of at least 270 balloter votes must join before information technology tin function. Read more nearly the National Pop Vote.

The idea of abolishing the Electoral College and instead electing the president by direct popular vote comes about every few years. Abolishing the Electoral College requires an amendment to the U.s. Constitution. In that location are 2 means to do that:

• Congress can propose an amendment by a two-thirds vote of both chambers. The amendment then has to be ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of u.s.a.. All existing amendments to the Constitution were made in this way.
• The legislatures of 2-thirds of the states can petition Congress to convene a Ramble Convention. At a Constitutional Convention, whatsoever part of the Constitution could be amended; activity is non restricted to the sections governing the Electoral College or any other part of the Constitution. Again, any proposed amendment would take to be ratified by three-fourths of u.s.. This method has never been invoked.

Faithless Electors

In that location is no federal law or ramble provision requiring electors to vote for the party that nominated them, and over the years a number of electors have voted against the instructions of the voters. In 2004, a Minnesota elector nominated by the Autonomous Party bandage a ballot for John Edwards, the vice presidential running mate of John Kerry--thought to be an accident. Electors generally are selected by the political party for their party loyalty, and many are party leaders, and thus non likely to vote other than for their political party's candidate.

In 2016, in that location were seven faithless electors, the nigh since 1972—three Democratic electors from Washington state cast their votes for Republican Colin Powell, instead of Democrat Hillary Clinton; ane Autonomous elector from Washington state cast his vote for Faith Spotted Eagle, a woman who is a member of the Yankton Sioux Nation; one Autonomous elector from Hawaii cast his vote for Bernie Sanders, instead of Hillary Clinton; one Republican elector from Texas cast his vote for John Kasich, instead of Donald Trump; and ane Republican elector from Texas cast his vote for Libertarian Ron Paul. The terminal time an elector crossed party lines was in 1972, when an elector nominated past the Republican Party cast his ballot for the Libertarian ticket.

Some states have passed laws that require their electors to vote as pledged. These laws may either impose a fine on an elector who fails to vote according to the statewide or district popular vote, or may disqualify an elector who violates his or her pledge and provide a replacement elector. In July 2020, the U.South. Supreme Court ruled that it is constitutional for states to enact this type of police. The states with laws that effort to demark the votes of presidential electors are beneath:

States With Laws That Attempt to Demark the Votes of Presidential Electors

Alabama (Ala. Code §17-xiv-31)	Mississippi (Miss. Code Ann. §208.46)
Alaska (Alaska Stat. §fifteen.30.090)	Montana (Mont. Code Ann. §13-25-307)
Arizona (Ariz. Rev. Stat. §16-212)	Nebraska (Pecker. Rev. Stat. §32-714)
California (Cal. Elec. Code §6906)	Nevada (Nev. Rev. Stat. §298.075)
Colorado (Colo. Rev. Stat. §1-4-304)	New Mexico (N.G. Stat. Ann. §one-15-9)
Connecticut (Conn. Gen. Stat. §9-176)	North Carolina (N.C. Gen. Stat. §163-212)
Delaware (Del. Code Ann. tit. 15, §4303(b))	Oklahoma (Okla. Stat. tit.26 §10-102)
Commune of Columbia (D.C. Lawmaking §one-1001.08)	Ohio (Ohio Rev. Code §3505.40)
Florida (Fla. Stat. §103.021)	Oregon (Or. Rev. Stat. §248.355)
Hawaii (Haw. Rev. Stat. §fourteen-28)	Due south Carolina (S.C. Lawmaking Ann. §7-xix-fourscore)
Indiana (Ind. Code §3-ten-4-ane.seven)	Tennessee (Tenn. Code Ann. §two-15-104)
Iowa (Iowa Code §54.8)
Maine (Me. Stat. tit.21-A, §805)	Vermont (Vt. Stat. Ann. §2732)
Maryland (Dr.. Code Ann. §8-505)	Virginia (Va. Code Ann. §24.2-203)
Massachusetts (Mass Gen. Laws ch.53, §eight)	Washington (Wash. Rev. Lawmaking §29A.56.090)
Michigan (Mich. Comp. Laws §168.47)	Wisconsin (Wis. Stat. §seven.75)
Minnesota (Minn. Stat. §208.46)	Wyoming (Wyo. Stat. Ann. §22-19-108)

Most of the laws cited above crave electors to vote for the candidate of the party that nominated the elector, or require the elector to sign a pledge to practise so. Some go further: Oklahoma imposes a civil penalty of $1,000; in North Carolina, the fine is $500, the faithless elector is deemed to have resigned, and a replacement is appointed. In South Carolina, an elector who violates his or her pledge is subject to criminal penalties, and in New Mexico a violation is a fourth degree felony. In Michigan, a candidate who fails to vote as required is considered to have resigned, and a replacement is appointed.

Additional Resources

• U.S. National Athenaeum and Records Administration
• National Popular Vote (advocacy group)
• Congressional Inquiry Service: 2022 Presidential Election Timeline
• Debating the Electoral Higher - State Legislatures Magazine
• NCSL's National Popular Vote

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Source: https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/the-electoral-college.aspx

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