In fact, two out of the last five elections were won by candidates who had fewer votes from the general public than their rivals. It is possible for candidates to be the most popular candidate among voters nationally, but still fail to win enough states to gain electoral votes. In , Donald Trump had almost three million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton, but won the presidency because the electoral college gave him a majority.
In , George W Bush won with electoral votes, although Democrat candidate Al Gore won the popular vote by more than half a million. Only three other presidents have been elected without winning the popular vote, all of them in the 19th Century: John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B Hayes and Benjamin Harrison. When the US constitution was being drawn up in , 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. At the same time, there was little enthusiasm for allowing the president to be chosen by lawmakers in the capital, Washington DC. So, the framers of the constitution created the electoral college, with each state choosing electors. Smaller states favoured the system as it gave them more of a voice than a nationwide popular vote to decide the president. 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-fifths of a person. 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.
An objection must be declared in writing and signed by at least one Representative and one Senator. In the case of an objection, the Joint Session recesses and each chamber considers the objection separately for no more than two hours; each Member may speak for five minutes or less. After each house votes on whether to accept the objection, the Joint Session reconvenes and both chambers disclose their decisions.
If both chambers agree to the objection, the electoral votes in question are not counted. If either chamber opposes the objection, the votes are counted. Originally, the Electoral College provided the Constitutional Convention with a compromise between two main proposals: the popular election of the President and the election of the President by Congress. There have been other attempts to change the system, particularly after cases in which a candidate wins the popular vote, but loses in the Electoral College.
The closest Congress has come to amending the Electoral College since was during the 91st Congress — when the House passed H. The resolution cleared the House to 70, but failed to pass the Senate. The election of the President goes to the House of Representatives.
Each state delegation casts a single vote for one of the top three contenders from the initial election to determine a winner. This happened in , in , and three times in the s. If no candidate receives the majority of electoral votes , the vote goes to the House of Representatives.
House members choose the new president from among the top three candidates. The Senate elects the vice president from the remaining top two candidates. This has only happened once. The Electoral College process is in the U. It would take a constitutional amendment to change the process. For more information, contact your U. Lots of people dream of becoming President of the United States. But to officially run for office, a person needs to meet three basic requirements established by the U.
Constitution Article 2, Section 1. People with similar ideas usually belong to the same political party. The two main parties in the U. Many people want to be President. In caucuses, party members meet, discuss, and vote for who they think would be the best party candidate.
In primaries, party members vote in a state election for the candidate they want to represent them in the general election. After the primaries and caucuses, each major party, Democrat and Republican, holds a national convention to select a Presidential nominee. The Presidential candidates campaign throughout the country to win the support of the general population.
When people cast their vote, they are actually voting for a group of people called electors. The number of electors each state gets is equal to its total number of Senators and Representatives in Congress. A total of electors form the Electoral College. Each elector casts one vote following the general election.
The candidate who gets votes or more wins. An election for president of the United States happens every four years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. A majority of electoral votes is required to elect the President. Your State has the same number of electors as it does Members in its Congressional delegation: one for each Member in the House of Representatives plus two Senators.
Read more about the allocation of electoral votes. The District of Columbia is allocated 3 electors and treated like a State for purposes of the Electoral College under the 23rd Amendment of the Constitution. Each candidate running for President in your State has his or her own group of electors known as a slate.
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