The Electoral And Electoral College

The Electoral College was designed in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention. A variety of ideas were originally brought to attention. Two significant and highly regarded options were a) Congress selects the

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 went over several systems that were proposed for electing a new president which included but were not limited to by the governors of the states, by the state legislators, and by direct popular vote. The issue was soon referred to the Committee of Eleven on Postponed Matters, where the plan for the current electoral college was devised. The electoral college issued each state a number of electors equal to the sum of the

In 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the framers of the Constitution of the United States of America worked together to identify the best way to elect the President (Patterson, 2013). The ideas suggested varied and ranged from selection by members of congress chosen by lottery, to a popular vote of the people. By the end of the Convention the matter had yet to be settled as the framers fore saw that many of the suggestions were prone to corruption, error, and were very chaotic. The issue was passed down to the Committee on Postponed Matters, who in turn created the system that is used today and is commonly known as Electoral College (Kazin, 2011). The Electoral College was outlined by the Committee to up hold the views of the founding fathers, who were the framers of the Constitution.

The Electoral College dates back to the very founding of America and American politics. The way to elect the President was a hotly contested issue at the Constitutional Convention. Many options were considered, including selection by Congress, selection by state governors, selection by state legislatures, and direct popular vote (Electoral College 6). The final decision of the Founding Fathers was written in Article II, Sections II and III of the US Constitution:

The Electoral College was brought into play in the twelfth amendment and in Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. A state is given a certain

The idea of this “Electoral College” arose in the summer of 1787. There were multiple proposals

Some delegates wanted members of Congress to elect the president, others wanted state legislatures to elect the candidate, and some just wanted a direct popular election. They knew it was a very important job and that the President would be the face of the nation. Members of the Constitutional Convention did not trust the common people at the time to make a well informed decision for a candidate for the office of president. They were worried the people may elect someone who was not qualified or fit to lead the country. The members also had to find a way to make sure all the states and people would have a say in who would be elected. The Electoral College idea was presented and most delegates approved of the idea so the Electoral College was put into place. (History) At first the Electoral ballot was different from where it is now. In the early stages of the Electoral College the President was chosen by whoever had the majority of votes but the Vice President was whoever had the next closest amount of electoral votes. This proved to be a major problem when in 1800 the presidential nominee for the Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson, tied with his running mate Aaron Burr. This caused a stalemate in the

Elbridge Gerry, a Father of the Constitution, put it this way, “A popular election in this case is radically vicious. The ignorance of the people would put it in the power of some one set of men dispersed through the Union, and acting in concert, to delude them into any appointment.” This means that the People would elect a man who promised great things, but in reality was playing on their wants just to win the election. They would increasingly become more tyrannical over time and each election till one day the United States might have another King George III to deal with. So, to keep from letting this happen the Founding Fathers found a better way to elect the President, the Electoral College. They saw the electoral college as a way of preserving the freedom of the United States and keep the people content and well represented (Longley). The young, naïve new voters do not look below the surface to see what the candidate is selling. They see a big picture and vote based on that, but what they do not realize is that the candidates want that and use that. Bernie Sanders was saying how if he won the election he would work towards getting free college. The only problem with free college is that nothing is actually free. Someone has to pay for the bills, books,

It is crucial to understand that when the electoral college was first developed it was different time, lacking certain thing that we currently possess today. In the specific era of time, it may have been the best option, but times change and technology advances, leaving no area of need for the electoral college current day. The electoral college was first devised during the Constitutional Congress of 1787, almost 230 years ago (Jefferson- Jenkins). In a new country, weary of any national government power and states possessive over their own rights and powers, it seemed to be the most suited option for the new country. It’s goal was to reunite feuding states and ease the mind of less populous states with the addition of senatorial electors. Overtime and even more so today, the power of the of national government has greatly expanded,consequently removing the need to accommodate the suspicions of the people.

538 is the sum of the nation’s 435 Representatives, 100 Senators, and 3 electors given to the District of Columbia.

In 1802, the Electoral College was established.The Electoral College is the U.S. way of voting for a President, but there is controversy over whether or not we should change our way of voting. Currently, the United States of America have a election system that includes, 538 electors, and the candidates have to have 270 electoral representatives to win. Each state has a different amount of electoral votes, the amount of voters are counted by the 2 senators for each state and a included vote for each member of the districts the state has. When every citizen within the state votes, the votes will be tallied and whichever Candidate gets more votes, takes the electoral votes within that state. It's based around a “Winner takes all system”. After all votes for each state have been counted, and the electoral votes have been distributed to each candidate, the candidate with the most total electoral votes, is the next president of the United States of America. If there is a tie within the electoral votes, the House of Representatives choose the next president. In the 23rd amendment, this allowed Washington D.C. to have 3 electoral votes included in the election. Young U.S. citizens believe it's as simple as casti/ng a vote, buts it's far more complicated.

The original Electoral College plan was very popular in its inception, among most delegates at the constitutional convention of 1787. The goals of the original Electoral College were as follows; to accommodate differing state and federal views, incorporate a popular vote feature to the election, protect the smaller states with less population, separate the executive and legislative branch, and make it hard to politically manipulate the election. The Constitution designated that the original Electoral College consists of an equal number of electors to the number of legislators in the House of Representative in each state. Two electors would be added to each state; to equal the number of senators in each respective state. All of the electors

According to the National Archives and Records Administration, the Electoral College is a process of the United States Constitution. It was established by the founding fathers as a compromise between election of the president by Congress and election by popular vote. It also states that each state is allocated a number of electors equal to the number of its United States Senators, which is always two,

The electoral system of the United States is based on the principle of equality of all residents of the states and a rigid filter of the candidates (instead of the usual majority principle). In 1787, at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia “fathers of the nation” were considering various options of the American electoral system.

When the founders were proposing ideas for the Constitution they needed to determine how to choose the President. Some of these ideas involved some of the founders wanting the President to be chosen by Congress, chosen by the states through the state legislatures or state governors, chosen by the citizens, and chosen by the electors which also raised the question of who would choose the electors. All of these ideas developed into the Committee of Eleven on Postponed Matters who created the Electoral College as a compromise.