Political Blog

What is the Electoral College?

By the end of this essay, you will know more about the Electoral College. What is the Electoral College? How does it work? These questions and more will be answered in this essay.

The Electoral College is administered by the National Archives and Records Administration or the (NARA). It is not a place; our founding fathers established it for one purpose, to keep the election in prospective.

There are many ways the electoral vote may be used; one is the selecting of various electors throughout the United States, most likely the political parties. The two main parties are the Republicans and the Democrats. You can’t decide over night to be a politician there are certain laws and requirements. ‘‘The U.S. Constitution contains very few provisions relating to the qualifications of elector(s) (NARA FAQ)’’ however: Article II section I clause 2 provides that no Senator or Representative, or a person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States shall be appointed an elector. Another fact: The 14 Amendment tells us that State officials who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States and given aid and comfort to its enemies are disqualified from serving as electors.

Each state electoral vote is indicated by the number of U.S. Representatives. One electoral vote is based on how many electors are in The House of Representatives plus two for senators. The state’s population also determines the electoral vote. Examples, South Carolina has eight electoral votes and North Carolina as well as Georgia has fifteen. The electoral vote changes every ten years by the Federal Census the last was taken in 2000. Electors are often selected by their parties nomination example of one is John Kerry was nominated by the Democratic National Committee as a presidential candidate. Also the voters choose the electors in each state by practicing their patriotism for their country.

Your vote is very important to your state and the elector. One vote means a great deal of importance. For the candidate it is not necessary to not win the popular vote, but win the more populous states like Florida (27), Ohio (20), Pennsylvania (21), California (55), New York (32), Massachusetts (12) Texas (34) and other smaller states like New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Alabama. These states would give the candidate the win. The Electoral College elects presidents only. After November 2 as soon as possible the votes are finalized; on December 7 the resolve any disputes regulating the voting results (we saw this at the 2000 election).

One vote separated President Andrew Jackson from being impeached. A few votes brought Governor George W. Bush (R. Texas) to the Presidency. Your vote has a lot to do with the Electoral College. One example of the Electoral College hard at work was the 2004 presidential election. When Democratic John Kerry and Republican opponent George W. Bush. Most of the electors were still undecided as of November 2, 2004. It was not a complete landslide, but President Bush did win with 286 electoral votes and Kerry with 251. The popular vote went more toward Bush in 2004 than in 2000 with 60,693,281 and Kerry with 57,355,978. The winner was Bush.

-President Blog

Daniel