HOW THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE WORKS

How the Electoral College Works

The current workings of the Electoral College are the
result of both design and experience. As it now
operates:

*    Each State is allocated a number of Electors equal
to the number of its U.S. Senators (always 2) plus the
number of its U.S. Representatives (which may change
each decade according to the size of each State's
population as determined in the Census).
*    The political parties (or independent candidates) in
each State submit to the State's chief election
official a list of individuals pledged to their
candidate for president and equal in number to the
State's electoral vote. Usually, the major political
parties select these individuals either in their State
party conventions or through appointment by their
State party leaders while third parties and
independent candidates merely designate theirs.
*    Members of Congress and employees of the federal
government are prohibited from serving as an Elector
in order to maintain the balance between the
legislative and executive branches of the federal
government.
*    After their caucuses and primaries, the major
parties nominate their candidates for president and
vice president in their national conventions
traditionally held in the summer preceding the
election. (Third parties and independent candidates
follow different procedures according to the
individual State laws). The names of the duly
nominated candidates are then officially submitted to
each State's chief election official so that they
might appear on the general election ballot.

*    On the Tuesday following the first Monday of
November in years divisible by four, the people in
each State cast their ballots for the party slate of
Electors representing their choice for president and
vice president (although as a matter of practice,
general election ballots normally say "Electors for"
each set of candidates rather than list the individual
Electors on each slate).
*    Whichever party slate wins the most popular votes in
the State becomes that State's Electors-so that, in
effect, whichever presidential ticket gets the most
popular votes in a State wins all the Electors of that
State. [The two exceptions to this are Maine and
Nebraska where two Electors are chosen by statewide
popular vote and the remainder by the popular vote
within each Congressional district].
*    On the Monday following the second Wednesday of
December (as established in federal law) each State's
Electors meet in their respective State capitals and
cast their electoral votes-one for president and one
for vice president.
*    In order to prevent Electors from voting only for
"favorite sons" of their home State, at least one of
their votes must be for a person from outside their
State (though this is seldom a problem since the
parties have consistently nominated presidential and
vice presidential candidates from different States).
*    The electoral votes are then sealed and transmitted
from each State to the President of the Senate who, on
the following January 6, opens and reads them before
both houses of the Congress.
*    The candidate for president with the most electoral
votes, provided that it is an absolute majority (one
over half of the total), is declared president.
Similarly, the vice presidential candidate with the
absolute majority of electoral votes is declared vice
president.
*    In the event no one obtains an absolute majority of
electoral votes for president, the U.S. House of
Representatives (as the chamber closest to the people)
selects the president from among the top three
contenders with each State casting only one vote and
an absolute majority of the States being required to
elect. Similarly, if no one obtains an absolute
majority for vice president, then the U.S. Senate
makes the selection from among the top two contenders
for that office.
*    At noon on January 20, the duly elected president
and vice president are sworn into office.
Occasionally questions arise about what would happen
if the presidential or vice presidential candidate
died at some point in this process. For answers to
these, as well as to a number of other "what if"
questions, readers are advised to consult a small
volume entitled After the People Vote: Steps in
Choosing the President edited by Walter Berns and
published in 1983 by the American Enterprise
Institute. Similarly, further details on the history
and current functioning of the Electoral College are
available in the second edition of Congressional
Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, a real goldmine
of information, maps, and statistics.