Having just concluded the election by the public for the 44th President of the United States, our attention will once again turn to the constitutional requirement of the ‘Electoral College’ to meet, cast ballots for President and Vice President, and submit their votes to the President of the Senate of the United States.
What was that you said – another vote for President after we already voted? The President is not chosen by a nation-wide popular vote, the electoral vote determines the winner. It is the manner stipulated by the Constitution of the United States. The Constititution does not provide for an election of the President by the public of each state. Instead, it requires each State to ‘appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress’
Each State in their constitutions and laws and Congress in its laws has provided for the requirements for elections within the states. However, every four years when we go to the voting booth and cast our vote for President, we are actually casting a vote for the slate of Electors of our respective states who will make up the Electoral College. These Electors will then meet in each state, cast their votes for President and Vice President and submit it to the U. S. Senate.
Some states have laws that stipulate that the Electors are required to cast their vote in accordance with the popular vote in their state, other states do not. There is no Constitutional provision or Federal law that would require them to do so.
On December 15th, the Electors meet in each state to cast their votes. Of the fifty states and the District of Columbia, all but Maine and Nebraska are “winner-take-all” states where all of the state’s electoral votes go the winner of that state’s popular vote no matter what the percentage difference is between candidates.
In the drafting of the Constitution, the original proposal was for the President to be selected by the U. S. Senate. However, after just disengaging the country from the despotic rule of the British Crown, they were extremely cautious in creating a process where the President would be beholden to such a small group of individuals instead of the people at large. Along with other powers provided the President by the Constitution and oversight by the Senate, it was an obvious situtation that could cause cabals, intrigue and coercion. Something they desperately wanted to avoid. Even having the subsequent vote by the House of Representatives (one vote for each state in this case) in the case of a tie or no one receiving a majority was seen as a way of eliminating any corruption of the President by the Senate.
It is a very unique way of electing a President – one most people do not understand. The argument against this process and in favor of just using the popular vote is one made in ignorance. The same arguments prevail with this option – the balance of power in electing the President would reside in only the large, populated states and cities and they would be targeted for or make demands for funding, special favors, etc. in exchange for votes. Small, less populated states and rural communities would not be necessary in this kind of election and their vote would be disenfranchised. We truly then would end up at that point as was described by Doctor Benjamin Franklin at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention:
“…I think a General Government [is] necessary for us, and there is no Form of Government but what may be a Blessing to the People if well administered; and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism as other forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other.”
For more information on the Electoral College: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/2008/
(c) Patriotic Expressions and Patriotic Minute 2008
Not for reproduction without permission of author.
