The us presidential election

A short description of the U.S. Indirect election system

1. The US presidential election

2. The president of the United States isn ’t directly elected by American voters but by members of what 's known as the electoral college Here ’s how the system works

3. When Americans go to the polls in presidential elections they 're actually voting for a group of officials who make up the electoral college

4. The word "college" here simply refers to a group of people with a shared task. These people are electors and their job is to choose the president and vice-president . The electoral college meets every four years , a few weeks after election day , to carry out that task.

5. The number of electors from each state is roughly in line with the size of its population

6. Each state gets as many electors as its number of Representatives and S enators in the US Congress

7. Currently , there are 100 senators and 435 state R epresentatives In addition , the   District of Columbia – Washington D.C. – has 3 electors .   There are currently 538 electors . There are currently 538 electors

8. California has the most electors - 55 – while the less populated states like Wyoming , Alaska and North Dakota have the minimum of three . Each elector represents one electoral vote 538 electors= 538 electoral votes a candidate needs to gain a majority of the votes – 270 or more - to win the presidency.

9. States give all their electoral college votes to the candidate who won the poll of popular voters in the State . winner- take - all voting methods

10. For example , if a candidate wins 50.1% of the vote in Texas, they are awarded all of the state's 38 electoral votes .

11. Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia have a winner-take-all system There are only two states -Maine and Nebraska- which divide up their electoral college votes according to the proportion of votes each candidate receives .

12. This is why presidential candidates target specific "swing states " = states where the vote could go either way - rather than trying to win over as many voters as possible across the country .

13. It 's therefore possible for a candidate to become president by winning a number of tight races in certain states , despite having fewer votes across the country .

14. Every state they win gets them closer to the 270 electoral college votes they need .!!!

15. Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia have a winner-take-all system, in which the party whose candidate wins the popular vote in a state appoints all that state’s electors to the Electoral College.

16. Then , on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December , members of the Electoral College  meet  in their respective states and cast their official votes for president and vice president

17. How Electors Are Chosen the  Constitution   states that electors can’t be a member of Congress , or hold federal office, but left it up to individual states to figure out everything else

18. Today , the most common method of choosing electors is by state party convention. Each political party ’ s state convention nominates a list of electors

19. P olitical parties usually   choose people   whom they want to reward for their service to and support of the party. Electors can be party leaders in the state, or people who have some kind of personal or professional connection with the party ’ s candidate.

20. Do electors have to vote for the candidate who won ?

21. In some states , electors could vote for whichever candidate they prefer , regardless of which party appointed them . But in practice , electors almost always vote for the candidate who wins the most votes in their state. If an elector votes against their state's presidential pick , they are termed " faithless ".

22. What Are ‘ Faithless Electors ’?   they are electors who do not vote for the state’s winner . They do not respect the popular vote in their state most states have adopted various laws to enforce the electors ’ pledge

23. In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court  ruled   that the Constitution doesn ’t require electors to vote according to the results of the popular vote in their states . Instead , the Court held , states have the constitutional power to force electors to vote according to their state’s popular vote.

24. At the time of the Court’s decision , 32 states had passed laws that bind electors , while 18 states had laws giving electors the freedom to vote independently—

25. When the US constitution was being drawn up in 1787, a national popular vote to elect a president was practically impossible . This was because of the size of the country and the difficulty of communication

26. So, the Fathers of the Constitution created the electoral college, with each state choosing electors .

27. Smaller states favoured the system as it gave them more of a voice than a nationwide popular vote to decide the president .

28. Since the number of electoral votes was determined by the size of a state's population , southern states had more influence in electing a president than a direct public vote would have given them .  

29. The electoral college was also favoured by southern states , where slaves made up a large portion of the population . Even though slaves didn 't vote, they were counted in the US census ……as three-fifth of a person

30. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9H3gvnN468