The Electoral College Process

According to the National Archive, The Electoral College process consists of the selection of the electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress. The Electoral College was established within the Constitution as a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens The Electoral College although develop by the founding fathers still holds true in its process of electing the United States President today. The Electoral College is based in historical factors established by the founding fathers, the selection of electors, and the certification of the electoral votes and …show more content…
The founding fathers were fearful of democracy. James Madison worried that factions would develop and violate the rights of other citizens or bring harm to the country. Alexander Hamilton writes in “The Federalist Papers”, the Constitution is designed to ensure “that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications,” The point of the Electoral College is to preserve “the sense of the people,” while at the same time ensuring that a president is chosen “by the men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their …show more content…
The political parties either nominate a slate of potential electors at the state party convention or electors are chosen by a vote form the members of the party’s central committee. Part two of the process takes place on election day when the votes for president are cast. Citizens are voting to select their state electors whose name may or may not be displayed on the ballot under the name of the presidential candidate’s name. The election procedures for ballot formatting various in each state. The presidential candidate that wins has their slate of potential electors appointed as the electors of their state, but in Nebraska and Maine, the electors are distributed proportionally. This allows the electors from Maine and Nebraska to be awarded more than one candidate. The electors do not have to cast a vote that reflects the results of the popular vote in their state, according to the constitution and federal law but some states require the electors cast their vote to reflect that of the popular vote in their state. There are pledges made that fall into two categories, those electors that are bound by state law and those that are bound to their prospective party. In some states if the electors do