Essay: How Our Electoral College Works / strengths and weaknesses

Our Electoral College has a truly unique system when it comes to the process of how we go about electing our President and Vice-President of the United States. The founding fathers of our nation established it within our Constitution as a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of what we would like to call qualified citizens or people that have the wonderful privilege of voting. (“What Is the Electoral College?” 2016).
I am intrigued to learn more about how the Electoral College works, understanding the electoral college’s history, it’s benefits, and its drawbacks and how this demonstrates why it is such a useful system.
How Our Electoral College Works;
Every four years, voters go to the poll booths and select a candidate or nominee in other words, for President and Vice President they do this by voting for their selected candidate. In all but two of the states, the candidate who wins the majority of the votes within a state wins that state’s electoral votes. In Nebraska and Maine, electoral votes are assigned by representation while remaining proportional between the states thus meaning, that the top vote-getter in those states wins two electoral votes( for the two Senators) while the remaining electoral votes are given out or allocated by congressional district. These rules make it possible for both candidates to receive electoral votes from Nebraska and Maine, unlike the system that is used today in all of the remaining 48 states. (“How does it work?,” 2012).
Why was the Electoral College created and what purpose does it serve?
The first purpose of the Electoral College system was that it was built in order to create a buffer between the population of the people and the selection of our President.
The second part is that the structure of the government gave extra power to the smaller states.
The founders created the Electoral College system , because back then they were afraid of the direct election of a President into Presidency. They were extremely fearful of being under tyrannical rule meaning they were afraid a tyrant or an extremely powerful person in office could manipulate public opinion and come to be in power.
Hamilton and the other founders firmly believed that only the electors would be able to ensure and predominately guarantee in a sense that only the most qualified person could become a President. They also believed that with the Electoral College system in place that no one would be able to manipulate citizenry, or manipulate the program as a whole.
This process served more as an act and check or what we call a check and balances system on an electorate, which in other words might be duped.
During this time Hamilton and the other founders believed that the population would not be up to the lengthy process or task of making the right choice, in relation to this issue they believed that the Electoral College was the best thing for this type of system and that they had an advantage of being a strong group that would only meet one time and this process could not in any way shape or form be manipulated over time by others or foreign governments. (Schulman, 1996).
How Electors get elected;
Choosing each state’s Electors is a two-part process. The first step in the process is for the political parties in each state to choose the potential nominees of potential Electors sometime before the general election takes place. The second part of the process is on Election Day, the voters in each state select their state’s Electors by casting their chosen ballots for President.
The first part of the process is controlled by the political parties in each state and will vary from state to state. Generally speaking, the parties within these states either nominate potential parties of potential Electors at their state party conventions or they chose them by a vote of the party’s central committee. This happens in each of the states for each party by whatever rules the state party and (sometimes) the national party has in place for the process. This first part of the process results in each a Presidential candidate or nominee having their own unique slate of potential Electors.
The second part of the process happens on Election Day. When the voters in each state cast their vote for the Presidential candidate of their choice they are in turn voting to select their state’s Electors. The potential Electors’ names may or may not appear on the ballot below the name of the Presidential candidates that are running, depending on the election procedures and ballot formats in each state.
The winning Presidential candidate’s slate of potential Electors is appointed as that state’s Electors—except in Nebraska and Maine, which have a distribution of proportional value of the Electors. In Nebraska and Maine, the state winner receives two Electors and the winner of each congressional district and this state receives one Elector. This system allows the Electors from Nebraska and Maine to be awarded to more than one candidate.(“U.S Electoral College,” 2016).
What role does Congress Play in the Electoral College?
House and Senate staff come to the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) to inspect the Certificates of Vote in late December. Because this statutory procedure describes that the Certificates of Votes are to be sent to the President of the Senate and are to be held under seal until Congress opens them and counts them in a joint session, the Congress depends heavily on the OFR to ensure the facial legal sufficiency of all the Certificates, this meaning that the OFR is strictly held to a much higher level of importance in these occurrences to make sure that things are done by the book so to speak. If any of the State’s Certificate fail to reach the President of the Senate, the President of the Senate then calls upon OFR to deliver duplicate originals in other words duplicate copies, in its possession to help complete the set that is held by Congress. After the 1988 election, the President of the Senate called for nineteen of the Certificates of Vote held by the OFR. For the 1992 election, the OFR supplied the Congress with two missing Certificates of Vote.
The Congress is scheduled to meet in joint session in the House of Representatives on January 6, 2017, to conduct the official tally of electoral votes. The Vice President, as President of the Senate, is the presiding officer. At this time two tellers are appointed and put into place to open and present and also record the votes of the States in alphabetical order. The President of the Senate announces the results of the vote and declares which persons, if any, have been elected or have been voted into office in other words as our new President and Vice President of the United States. The results are then entered into the official journals of the House and Senate, meaning they are fully and legally entered into the official journals. The President of the Senate then calls for any objections that might be made. If any objections are registered, they must then be submitted in writing and be signed by at least one member of the House and Senate. The House and Senate then withdraw to their respective chambers to consider the merits and legality of any objections that were made according to the procedure set out under 3 U.S.C. section 15.(“Congress and Their Electoral College Role,” 2016).
On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December (December 19, 2016), the electors meet in their respective States to cast their votes for the President and Vice President of the United States.
• November 8, 2016—Election Day:
The voters in each of the States choose electors to serve in what we know as the Electoral College. As soon as the election results are finalized, the States then turn around and prepare seven original “Certificates of Ascertainment” in relation to the electors that were chosen, and send one original along with two certified copies to the Archivist of the United States at the Office of the Federal Register.
• December 19, 2016—Meeting of Electors:
The electors in each State meet in order to select the President and Vice President of the United States. The Electors then record their votes on six “Certificates of Vote,” which are then paired with the six remaining original “Certificates of Ascertainment.” The electors then sign, seal and certify the packages of electoral votes and immediately turn around and send them to the Federal and State officials.
• December 28, 2016—Deadline for Receipt of Electoral Votes:
The President of the Senate, the Archivist of the United States, and other designated Federal and State officials must have the electoral votes in hand by this date.
• January 6, 2017—Counting Electoral Votes in Congress:
The Congress meets in a joint session to count the electoral votes (unless Congress passes a law to change the date).
________________________________________
Electoral College Instructions
1. Appoint Electors
The United States Constitution and Federal law do not describe the present method of appointment other than requiring that electors must be appointed on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November (November 8, 2016). In most States, these political parties nominate a group of electors at their State conventions or central committee meetings. Then the citizens of each State appoint the electors by popular vote in the state-wide general election. However, State laws on the appointment of electors may vary.
Under the Constitution, State legislatures have an array of broad powers to help direct or better guide the process for selecting electors, with one exception regarding the qualifications of electors. Article II, section 1, clause 2 states that “no Senator, Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States” may be appointed as an elector.
2. Prepare the Certificate of Ascertainment
After the general election, the Governor of each State prepares seven original Certificates of Ascertainment listing the persons appointed as Electors. Federal law does not govern the general appearance of the Certificate of Ascertainment. The format conforms to the law or custom of the submitting State. Federal law requires that the Certificates of Ascertainment be prepared and authenticated in the following manner:
• Each Certificate must list the names of the electors chosen by the voters and the number of votes received.
• Each Certificate must list the names of all other candidates for elector and the number of votes received.
• Each Certificate must be signed by the Governor and carry the seal of the State.
3. Distribute the Certificate of Ascertainment
One of the seven original Certificates of Ascertainment, along with two certified copies (or two additional originals) must be sent by registered mail or a commercial carrier to the Archivist.
4. Hold the Meeting of Electors
On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December (December 19, 2016), the electors meet in their respective States. Federal law does not allow the States to choose an alternate date for this meeting of Electors—it has to be held on December 19, 2016. The State legislature may designate where in the State the meeting will take place, this is usually done within the State capital. At this meeting, the Electors cast their votes for President and Vice President.
If any Electors are unable to carry out their duties on this chosen day of the Electoral College meeting, the laws of each State would govern the method for filling vacancies. Any controversy or contest concerning the appointment of Electors must be decided under State law at least six days prior to the meeting of the electors.
________________________________________
5. Prepare the Certificate of Vote
Federal law does not govern or oversee the general appearance of the Certificate of Vote. The format is determined by the law or custom of the state that is submitting it. The Electors must execute or obtain six Certificates of Vote. Federal law requires that the Certificates be prepared and authenticated in the following manner:
• The Certificates of Vote must contain two distinct lists, one for President and one for Vice President.
o The Certificates must list all persons who received electoral votes for President and the number of electors who voted for each person.
o The Certificates must list all persons who received votes for Vice President and the number of electors who voted for each person.
o The Certificates do not contain the names of persons who did not receive electoral votes.
• Each of the six Certificates of Vote must be signed by all of the electors.
• One of the six Certificates of Ascertainment provided to the electors by the Governor must be attached to each of the six Certificates of Vote.
• Finally, each of the six pairs of Certificates must be sealed and certified by the electors as containing the list of electoral votes of that State for President and Vice President.
6. Distribute the Paired Certificates of Vote and Certificates of Ascertainment
The six pairs of Certificates must be sent to the designated Federal and State officials as follows:
• Two are sent to:
The Secretary of State of each State.
o One of these is held subject to the order of the President of the United States Senate or the Archivist of the United States in case the electoral votes fail to reach the Senate or the Archivist.
o The other one is to be preserved by the Secretary of State for public inspection for one year.
• One is sent to:
The Chief Judge of the Federal District Court located where the electors meet.
o It is held subject to the order of the President of the United States Senate or the Archivist of the United States in case the electoral votes fail to reach the Senate or the Archivist.
The statutory deadline for the designated Federal and State officials to receive the electoral votes is December 28, 2016. It is extremely imperative that the Certificates be mailed as soon as possible.
We strongly recommend that the sealed pairs of Certificates be taken to the Post Office on December 19, or no later than the morning of December 20, to help minimize delays that could possibly occur during the holiday mail season. Some States find it very useful to alert their local Postmaster to this extraordinary important nature of the mailing. When the paired Certificates of Vote and Certificates of Ascertainment have been delivered to the designated Federal and State officials, the States’ Electoral College duties are complete.
Prior to the election this year, the Legal Staff of the Office of the Federal Register will telephone Secretaries of State and other election officials to establish contact with the States and help to assure the smooth operation of the Electoral College process. .(“Congress and Their Electoral College Role,” 2016).
________________________________________
What are the strengths of the Electoral College?;
The Electoral College is a unique process within itself, people today are claiming that the present system in place helps avoid a candidate from winning. Although they say that the Electoral College’s huge focus is only concentrating on areas that are heavily populated.
This system also gives each state the will to design it’s own laws while keeping it respectful in relation to voting, this will also allow each state the capability to make amendments if any at the present time are needed.
The Electoral College also allows the 3 branches of government the opportunity to freely use and operate the “checks and balances” system that is in place currently along with proper deliberation but at the same time keeping each other in line without one branch having more power than another.
It also allows the present two party system that is in place to be able to provide our country with firm and constant stability.
Certain people have argued that certain interest groups such as the minority group, for instance, have been said to have a huge impact in influencing the votes because of the well known “winner takes all” system that is currently in place today and is still the system that is being used.
What are the weaknesses of the Electoral College?;
In the majority of our states, the candidate that has the majority of the votes receives the electoral votes for that state. Meaning that the Electoral College gives what we would call disproportionate voting power to states, in this instance, they are playing favorites and awarding the smaller states with more electoral votes per person which are extremely unfair. The smaller states were given additional power to help prevent future and current politicians from only focusing on certain issues which in turn only affect the larger states. This fear comes from the belief that without this certain power, politicians would completely ignore the smaller states and only focus on bigger and more populated states. (“Fair Vote,” 2016).
Voters usually feel that their votes have no effect, this is extremely present in today’s society when the candidates don’t campaign for the turnout of potential voters unless it’s for “big swing” states.
The Electoral College system appears to offer more power to the smaller and less populated states which are unfair to the larger states. In turn and relation this helps the smaller states raise their electoral strength, in other words, this has led to granting a much larger privilege to the Republican Party. (“Advantages and Disadvantages ,” 2014).
The Electoral College and it’s effects on our nation’s history;
The 2000 Presidential Election was an election where the popular vote winner was not elected as President, George W. Bush ran on the Republican Ticket against the Democratic candidate Al Gore. Although Gore held a very slim popular vote(0.5%), Bush won the Electoral College vote with a final vote of 271-266. This election was flawed to say in a sense and in relation to, this exact election was served with extreme allegations of things such as voter fraud and disenfranchisement. There were also rumors of illegal road blocks, unclear ballots and also things such as uncounted votes, particularly in swing states like Missouri and Florida. The state of Florida became the key state in this election, and as the election came closer and closer to drawing to a close. Florida was won officially by a margin of 537 votes. This was extremely apparent after a recount of the votes was done, and a Supreme Court Ruling. At this time voters were also complaining about how the ballots were confusing and unclear, and many voters believed that they had voted for Pat Buchanan, who was a conservative running on the Reform Ticket, when in actuality they wanted to vote for Al Gore. This election resulted in many court battles over these contested ballots and vote recounts, these eventually turned into lawsuits and escalated up into to the U.S. Supreme Court where the final decision was made 5-4 this ended the recounts and gave the state of Florida’s electoral votes to Bush. (“Bush V Gore,” 2009).
After reading this information it is clearly outlined that this election was done extremely unfairly and was not done in the correct way and pretty much resulted in us receiving a President in office that was not rightfully elected into it. This is a huge deal and something to definitely think about. Makes me wonder if we vote for a certain candidate that is running for President does our vote really matter in the end. Will something like this same instance happen once again where someone is elected into office that didn’t truly win, he just happened to win by a popular vote?
After the election of 1876, it became clear that the Presidential Race hinged very much so on disputed returns from Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, these were the only 3 states in the South that still had a Reconstruction Era Republican government still operating and in power at the time. Allies of the Republican candidate Rutherford Hayes met in secret with southern Democrats in order to negotiate and compromise the acceptance of Hayes’ election. The Democrats agreed not to block Hayes’ victory on the sole condition that the republicans withdraw all their federal troops from the South. This resulted later on in Democratic Control over the region. On Election day that November, the Democrats appeared to have come out on top winning the swing states of Connecticut, Indiana, New York, and New Jersey. The Democratic nominee Tilden had 184 out of 185 votes that he needed in order to win. He was leading the popular vote by 250,000. The Republicans refused to be defeated, and they accused the Democrats of intimidation and bribery and prevented them from voting in 3 of the southern states, Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina. These were the only 3 states in the south that still had a Republican Government in power.