What is the purpose of the Electoral College?

Established in Article II, Section 1 of the U.S.
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Constitution, the Electoral College is the formal body which elects the President and Vice President of the United States.
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What is the purpose of the Electoral College and why was it created?

The Electoral College

As prescribed in the U.S. Constitution, American presidents are elected not directly by the people, but by the people's electors. The Electoral College was created by the framers of the U.S. Constitution as an alternative to electing the president by popular vote or by Congress.
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How does the Electoral College work in simple terms?

The number of electors each state gets is equal to its total number of Senators and Representatives in Congress. A total of 538 electors form the Electoral College. Each elector casts one vote following the general election. The candidate who gets 270 votes or more wins.
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What are the flaws with the Electoral College?

Three criticisms of the College are made: It is “undemocratic;” It permits the election of a candidate who does not win the most votes; and. Its winner-takes-all approach cancels the votes of the losing candidates in each state.
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What happens if a candidate wins the popular vote but not electoral?

If no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the House of Representatives elects the President from the three candidates who received the most electoral votes. Each state delegation has one vote. The Senate elects the Vice President from the two vice presidential candidates with the most electoral votes.
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The Electoral College, explained



How are electoral votes determined?

The formula for determining the number of votes for each state is simple: each state gets two votes for its two US Senators, and then one more additional vote for each member it has in the House of Representatives.
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How do electors get selected?

Who selects the electors? Choosing each State's electors is a two-part process. First, the political parties in each State choose slates of potential electors sometime before the general election. Second, during the general election, the voters in each State select their State's electors by casting their ballots.
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Can electors vote anyway they wish?

Faithless elector laws

As of 2020, 33 states and the District of Columbia have laws that require electors to vote for the candidates for whom they pledged to vote, though in half of these jurisdictions there is no enforcement mechanism.
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Who are members of Electoral College?

The presidential electoral college is made up of the following: elected members of the Rajya Sabha (upper house of the Parliament of India); elected members of the Lok Sabha (lower house of the Parliament of India); elected members of each state's Legislative Assembly (lower house of the state legislature); and.
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Who appoints the Electoral College?

Procedure. Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution directs each state to appoint a quantity of electors equal to that state's congressional delegation (members of the House of Representatives plus two Senators).
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Does popular vote determine electoral vote?

Usually, electoral votes align with the popular vote in an election. But a number of times in our nation's history, the person who took the White House did not receive the most popular votes.
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What are the two main reasons that the winner of the popular vote does not always win the presidency quizlet?

1. The winner of the popular vote is not guaranteed the presidency - this has happened 4 times in our history, this is a result of winner -takes-all feature and the way electoral votes are distributed among the states. 2.
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Why did the Framers not give the popular vote win the presidency quizlet?

Framers didn't want other congressional/popular election of the president. They expected electors to be respectable, well-informed citizens.
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What are the proposed reforms to the electoral college?

The three most popular reform proposals include (1) the automatic plan, which would award electoral votes automatically and on the current winner-take-all basis in each state; (2) the district plan, as currently adopted in Maine and Nebraska, which would award one electoral vote to the winning ticket in each ...
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Which form of electoral system is most common in the United States?

The most common method used in U.S. elections is the first-past-the-post system, where the highest-polling candidate wins the election. Under this system, a candidate only requires a plurality of votes to win, rather than an outright majority.
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How many electors does each state get?

Every State is allocated a number of votes equal to the number of senators and representatives in its U.S. Congressional delegation—two votes for its senators in the U.S. Senate plus a number of votes equal to the number of its Congressional districts.
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What does the title elector mean?

Electors were rulers of reichsstände (Imperial Estates), enjoying precedence over the other Imperial Princes. They were, until the 18th century, exclusively entitled to be addressed with the title Durchlaucht (Serene Highness).
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Has the U.S. ever had a presidential election overturned?

Only two Presidential elections (1800 and 1824) have been decided in the House. Though not officially a contingent election, in 1876, South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana submitted certificates of elections for both candidates.
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Which election had the closest electoral vote count?

The 1960 presidential election was the closest election since 1916, and this closeness can be explained by a number of factors.
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What are 3 major flaws in the Electoral College quizlet?

is plagued by three major defects: (1) the winner of the popular vote is not guaranteed the presidency; (2) electors are not required to vote in accord with the popular vote; and (3) any election might have to be decided in the House of Representatives.
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