How Does the Electoral School Work and Why Does It Matter?

It stays some of the stunning details about voting in the US: Whereas the favored vote elects members of Congress, mayors, governors, state legislators and much more obscure native officers, it doesn’t decide the winner of the presidency, the best workplace within the land.

That necessary resolution in the end falls to the Electoral School. When People solid their ballots, they’re really voting for a slate of electors appointed by their state’s political events who’re pledged to assist that social gathering’s candidate. (They don’t at all times accomplish that.)

This results in an intense concentrate on key battleground states, as candidates look to spice up their electoral benefit by concentrating on states that may assist them attain the wanted 270 votes of the whole 538 whole up for grabs. The Electoral School additionally conjures up many what-if situations, a few of them extra probably than others.

Can a president lose the favored vote however win the Electoral School vote?

Sure, and that’s what occurred in 2016: Though Hillary Clinton received the nationwide well-liked vote by nearly three million votes, Donald Trump garnered nearly 57 p.c of the electoral votes, sufficient to win the presidency.

The identical factor occurred in 2000. Though Al Gore received the favored vote, George W. Bush earned extra electoral votes after a contested Florida recount and a Supreme Court docket resolution. It occurred thrice earlier than that, with the elections of John Quincy Adams (1824), Rutherford B. Hayes (1876) and Benjamin Harrison (1888).

The electoral system has additionally awarded the presidency to candidates with a plurality of the favored vote (underneath 50 p.c) in plenty of instances, notably Abraham Lincoln in 1860, John F. Kennedy in 1960 and Invoice Clinton in 1992 and 1996.

What occurs in a tie?

As a result of there’s an excellent variety of electoral votes, a tie is possible. If that occurs within the Electoral School, then the choice goes to the newly seated Home of Representatives, with every state voting as a unit.

Though it’s not detailed within the Structure, every state delegation would vote on which candidate to assist as a bunch, with the plurality carrying the day, mentioned Akhil Reed Amar, a professor of regulation and political science at Yale College. If there’s a tie vote in a state’s delegation, the state’s vote wouldn’t depend. A presidential candidate wants not less than 26 votes to win.

At present, Republicans management 26 state delegations, whereas Democrats management 22. Pennsylvania is tied between Republican and Democratic representatives, and Michigan has seven Democrats, six Republicans and one unbiased. That might all change on Nov. three after all, as a result of all Home seats are up for election.

The choice on vice chairman goes to the newly elected Senate, with every senator casting a vote. Finally, any disputes concerning the process may land every part within the Supreme Court docket.

What if electors break their pledge?

Individuals name them “faithless electors.” In 2016, seven electors — 5 Democrats and a couple of Republicans — broke their guarantees to vote for his or her social gathering’s nominee, essentially the most ever in historical past. They voted for a wide range of candidates not on the poll: Bernie Sanders, Colin Powell and Ron Paul, amongst others. It didn’t change the end result.

Whether or not electors ought to have the ability to change their positions has been closely debated, a lot in order that the Supreme Court docket unanimously dominated in July that states might require electors to abide by their promise to assist a selected candidate.

Some students have mentioned they don’t wholeheartedly agree with the choice, arguing that it endangers an elector’s freedom to make selections they need and that electors are often picked for his or her loyalty to a candidate or social gathering.

“They may do as promised if the candidates do an excellent job vetting them and selecting people who find themselves rock-solid,” Professor Amar mentioned.

Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have legal guidelines that require electors to vote for his or her pledged candidate. Some states change electors and cancel their votes in the event that they break their pledge.

Sure penalties exist in different states. In New Mexico, electors may be charged with a felony in the event that they abandon their pledge, and in Oklahoma a faithless elector may face a misdemeanor cost.

How did this technique evolve?

The Electoral School was born on the 1787 Constitutional Conference in Philadelphia.

The nation’s founders hoped to quell the formation of highly effective factions and political events, and so they wished a mechanism that didn’t rely solely on well-liked majorities or Congress. Regardless of the identify, it’s not a university within the fashionable instructional sense, however refers to a collegium or group of colleagues.

The system had some uncommon outcomes from the beginning, as evident within the Election of 1800, a tie during which Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr acquired an equal variety of electoral votes. Congress broke the tie, and Jefferson grew to become president and Burr grew to become vice chairman. (Till the ratification of the 12th Modification in 1804, the candidate with the second-highest variety of electoral votes grew to become vice chairman.)

Immediately, electors meet of their respective states on the primary Monday after the second Wednesday of December — Dec. 14 this yr — to solid separate ballots for president and vice chairman, with the candidates who obtain a majority of votes being elected.

Electors are chosen each 4 years within the months main as much as Election Day by their respective state’s political events. Processes fluctuate from state to state, with some selecting electors throughout state Republican and Democratic conventions. Some states record electors’ names on the final election poll.

The method of selecting electors may be an “insider’s sport,” mentioned Kimberly Wehle, a professor on the College of Baltimore and the creator of “What You Have to Know About Voting and Why.” They’re usually state legislators, social gathering leaders or donors, she mentioned.

What number of electoral votes does it take to win?

The necessary quantity is 270. A complete of 538 electoral votes are in play throughout all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The entire variety of electoral votes assigned to every state varies relying on inhabitants, however every state has not less than three, and the District of Columbia has had three electors since 1961.

Are all states winner-take-all?

Most are, and it helps to think about voting on a state-by-state foundation, Professor Amar mentioned.

“It’s identical to in tennis,” he mentioned. “It’s what number of units you win and never what number of video games or factors you win. It’s a must to win the set, and in our system, it’s a must to win the state.”

Two exceptions are Maine and Nebraska, which depend on congressional districts to divvy up electoral votes. The winner of the state’s well-liked vote will get two electoral votes, and one vote is awarded to the winner of the favored vote in every congressional district.

There are arguments that the states with smaller populations are overrepresented within the Electoral School, as a result of each state will get not less than three electors no matter inhabitants. In a stark instance, sparsely populated Wyoming has three votes and a inhabitants of about 580,000, giving its particular person voters much more clout within the election than their tens of millions of counterparts in densely populated states like Florida, California and New York. And the Americans who stay in territories like Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands will not be represented by any electors.

“Whenever you speak concerning the Electoral School shaping the election, it shapes the election on a regular basis as a result of it places the concentrate on sure states and never others,” mentioned Alexander Keyssar, a professor of historical past and social coverage at Harvard College.

Will the system ever change?

For years there have been debates about abolishing the Electoral School totally, with the 2016 election bringing the talk again to the floor. It was even a speaking level amongst 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.

The concept has public assist, however faces a partisan divide, since Republicans presently profit from the electoral clout of much less populous, rural states.

Gallup studies 61 p.c of People assist abolishing the Electoral School in favor of the favored vote. Nevertheless, that assist diverges broadly primarily based on political events, with assist from 89 p.c of Democrats and solely 23 p.c of Republicans.

One route can be a constitutional modification, which might require two-thirds approval from each the Home and Senate and ratification by the states, or a constitutional conference referred to as by two-thirds of the state legislatures.

Some hope to cut back the Electoral School’s significance with out an modification. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia, which collectively management 196 electoral votes, have signed on to an interstate compact during which they pledge to grant their votes to the winner of the nationwide well-liked vote. The native legal guidelines would solely take impact as soon as the compact has sufficient states to whole 270 electoral votes.

Lastly, an election-related case may discover its technique to the Supreme Court docket, which might lend better significance to the judicial make-up of the court docket, Professor Wehle mentioned.

“It solely takes 5 individuals with life tenure to truly amend this Structure by means of a judicial opinion,” she mentioned.