Overview of Electoral Collage

Overview of Electoral Collage

            The President and the Vice President are both elected by a group of members known as The Electoral College. All voters in America are engaged indirectly in a popular vote. The voting process is usually conducted to elect specific people known as “electors.” In every State, the population determines the number of electoral votes that would be cast on the ballot. At this point, political parties in nearly every State assign its electors to participate in electing the President and the vice president. This means that when one vote for one candidate that ends up elected in the popular election in a specific state, the electors the party has chosen will proceed to cast ballots for them in their state capitals. The Electoral College was invented by the Founding Fathers in the Second Article, the First Segmentof the American Constitution. Based on history, the Constitution allocates each Several State electors that are equivalent to the total number of both the State’s Senate and the House of representatives (Bugh 432).

There are significant reasons why the framers of the U.S Structure created the Electoral College than having nationwide voting to select the Commander in Chief.  In the Make-up Convention of the year 1787, the founders of the Constitutioninvented a system that would be used in electing the Nation Leader. They had many decisions to elect from consenting individuals to elect a straight popular vote that will allow the states to select or approve the Upper house to choose. The main motive why the Electoral College was formed was due to the fear that anunswerving popular poll could let individuals to be influenced by a smart candidate. Another reason is that they sought to allow the states to have some guidance when it comes to an election while keeping the executive and the legislative branches apart as much as possible (Harper 232).

In general, the electoral college embodies a concession among all the probable strategies. Nowadays, when individuals cast their ballots to elect the chief of the United States, they are in the real sense balloting for a member of the electorate instead. All states in America have a member of constituency, and in mutual, they refer to as the Electoral College. This is the group of voters (electors) that usually elects both the President and the vice president. In many states, people mainly vote for eithercontender that wins in the general vote within their State. However, some states do not consider this throughthe ruling, but the voting members are “pledged” to elect for the aspirant who earns the popular vote despite them not being lawfully bound to do so (Hill 123)..

A collage mainly comprises of 538 electors. However, to win an election, a total majority of 270 electoral votes is primarily required. How the electors are chosen will differ based on the legislature of every State. The Senate, as well as House of Representatives’ members, shared equivalent the number of members of the electorate in a particular state. The twenty-third amendment of the United States Constitution states that the total of electors in the District of Colombia ought not to be above that in the least populous State. This means that each State is assigned several votesthat is equal to the representatives and senators in the America Congressional delegation. Only two states in America permitvoting members to be divided between aspirants regarding the general vote in the congressional districts. The two States include Maine and Nebraska. The other states are based on “the winner takes it all” structure that honors all constituents to either aspirant that wins the popular of the overallgeneral votes in the State (Posner 276).

Appointed or elected Federal officials cannot be allowed to be electors. The primary function of the central register is to manage the Electoral College. Selecting every State’s elector is a two-part procedure. First, the partisan in every State select slates of possible electors before the overall election. Secondly, at the time of overallballoting, the electorates in every State choose their State’s constituents through casting their votes on the ballot. Today, the State has given American citizens the right to vote to a vast population compared to the past, where legislatures were only allowed to choose electors in nearly every State.Every President’s, as well as vice president ticket, consists of possible electors. When the election day arrives, every voter will choose the elector’s members that are named for the permit after winning the total votes which are known as executive electors apart from only two states, Maine and Nebraska (Hill 453)

There is no endowment or Central law in the Constitution that entailsvoting members to vote based on the fallouts of the general vote in their states. However, some States wantvoting members in each State to cast their elections based on the prevalent majority. Yet, no member of the electorate has ever been indicted for not voting as sworn.Based on the 12^th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, electors ought to convene within their state capitals in six weeks after the election. Usually, elections happen on the first Monday and the 2^nd Wednesday of December. At this time, they are allowed to choose the Chief commander and the vice president in different ballots. Electors usually vote for the two offices separately based on their wishes so long as at least one on their votes is for an individual they do not share the same residence ((Hill 123)

Other states have decrees that entail/entailmembers of the electorate to vote for members such laws initiate. The electors that do not obeytheir vowed members are known as faithless electors. After the voting process is over, all states send a licensed record of balloting to the Assembly. The votes are open throughout a unitedassembly of Assembly that is held in January, the 1^stweek of that month. It is the responsibility of the incumbent vice-president that announces it. Later, an individual is declared the winner if she/he receives a total or absolute majority of electoral votes. A contingent election is conducted when there is a tie or when no aspirant has expected the majority of the votes ((Posner 543).

It is the responsibility of the House of Representatives through the State that nominates the President. In this balloting, the House of Representatives elects from the three contenders who have the most electoral votes. Conversely, it is the responsibility of the Senate to choose the vice-president in a contingent election and select the two primary candidates with the majority votes. In every contingent election, all senators cast individual votes. It is only one region, the district of Colombia, that does not participate in this election since it is not a state. The Electoral College system keeps the form of togetherness in the United States because there is no single state that has satisfactoryballoting to overcome the majority to appoint the Chief of Staff (Stonecash 153).

After the November General Election, the United States regulatory change took place when the federal executive branch of authority from the incumbent chief of staff was handed to the president-elect between the period of election day in November and the inauguration day followed on January 20^th. After electing the President, governors of States create a “Certificate of Ascertainment” that lists names of contenders that aspire for an appointment with their members of the electorate. The governor proclaims the winner of the elections for that particular State. The Certificate of Ascertainment is taken to the Assembly. The member of the voters elected from the statescome together the following month of the election. This is the point where the electors cast votes and elect the President (Stonecash 241).

The ballots from all states are well filed on what is referred to as the “Certificate of Vote.” It is at this point when the Electoral Collegesettlesuntil the succeeding presidential election, which takes place after four years. The next step is counting of the votes that take place the following month in the Assembly, and a majority of Two Hundred and Seventy votes is required to win. If the aspirants fail to receive the required threshold, the President is then elected by the House of Representatives. It is at this point where opponents of Electoral College argue that there is always a likelihood of choosing a president that was not genuinely accepted by the majority (Stonecash 321).

This means that the real accessible ballots voted the opposite of what the majority elected. Those backing the Electoral College claim that the system is useful because it enforces unity in the United States. After all, no single region can have enough electoral votes to elect a president. Proposals to eradicate Electoral College over the years have mainly failed because some of the alternatives suggested appearing to be more problematic than the Electoral College itself. The Electoral College has carried out its function over the last 100 years, and no single amendments have ever been made because it has always offered sufficient support in electoral processes (Stonecash 236).

Work Cited

Bugh, Gary, ed. Electoral College Reform: Challenges and Possibilities. Routledge, 2016.

Harper, Nick. “The Electoral College.” League of Women Voters, St. Paul. org/resources/Documents/Electoral% 20College% 20Explained. pdf. Accessed 20 (2017).

Hill, David, and Seth C. McKee. “The electoral college, mobilization, and turnout in the 2000 presidential election.” American Politics Research 33.5 (2015): 700-725.

Posner, Richard A. “In Defense of the Electoral College.” Slate Magazine (2016).

Stonecash, Jeffrey M. “The Electoral College and Democratic Responsiveness.” Electoral College Reform. Routledge, 2016. 87-98.