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Electoral College Fast Facts

Established in Article Ii, Section 1 of the U.Southward. Constitution, the Electoral College is the formal body which elects the President and Vice President of the Us. Each country has as many "electors" in the Electoral Higher as information technology has Representatives and Senators in the United States Congress, and the District of Columbia has three electors. When voters go to the polls in a Presidential election, they really vote for the slate of electors who have vowed to cast their ballots for that ticket in the Electoral College.

Electors

Most states crave that all electoral votes get to the candidate who receives the nearly votes in that land. After land ballot officials certify the popular vote of each state, the winning slate of electors see in the country upper-case letter and bandage two ballots—i for Vice President and one for President. Electors cannot vote for a Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate who both hail from an elector'due south home state. For case, if both candidates come from New York, New York's electors may vote for one of the candidates, but non both. In this hypothetical scenario, even so, Delaware'southward electors may vote for both New York candidates. This requirement is a holdover from early American history when i of the country'due south major political fault lines divided large states from small states. The founders hoped this rule would foreclose the largest states from dominating presidential elections.

/tiles/non-drove/i/i_electoralcollege_electoralcontestprint_2005_218_008-ii.xml Collection of the U.South. Business firm of Representatives
About this object The contested 1876 Presidential election brought Senators, and the electoral certificates under investigation, into the House Chamber.

• Maine and Nebraska employ a "district system" in which two at-large electors vote for the winner of the state'due south popular vote and one elector votes for the popular winner in each congressional district.

Although it is non unconstitutional for electors to vote for someone other than those to whom they pledged their support, many states, as well equally the District of Columbia, "bind" electors to their candidate using oaths and fines. During the nineteenth century, "faithless electors"—those who broke their pledge and voted for someone else—were rare, but not uncommon, especially when it came to Vice Presidents. In the mod era, faithless electors are rarer still, and have never adamant the outcome of a presidential ballot.

• There has been i faithless elector in each of the following elections: 1948, 1956, 1960, 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1988. A bare ballot was cast in 2000. In 2016, seven electors bankrupt with their land on the presidential election and six did so on the vice presidential ballot.

Procedure

/tiles/non-collection/i/i_electoral_college_frankleslies_electoralvote1881_2007_292_002-1.xml Drove of the U.S. Firm of Representatives
Nigh this object In the 1880 presidential election, James Garfield narrowly won the popular vote simply swept the Electoral College in the Midwest and Northeast.

Since the mid-20th century, Congress has met in a Articulation Session every four years on Jan half dozen at one:00 p.m. to tally votes in the Electoral College. The sitting Vice President presides over the meeting and opens the votes from each state in alphabetical order. He passes the votes to four tellers—two from the House and two from the Senate—who announce the results. House tellers include one Representative from each party and are appointed by the Speaker. At the finish of the count, the Vice President and then announces the name of the next President.

• With the ratification of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution (and starting with the 75th Congress in 1937), the electoral votes are counted before the newly sworn-in Congress, elected the previous Nov.
• The date of the count was inverse in 1957, 1985, 1989, 1997, 2009, and 2013. Sitting Vice Presidents John C. Breckinridge (1861), Richard Nixon (1961), and Al Gore (2001) all appear that they had lost their own bid for the Presidency.

Objections

/tiles/not-drove/i/i_electoral_college_electoralcount1913_2008_069_000_1.xml Drove of the U.Due south. House of Representatives
About this object The Business firm and Senate met in a Articulation Session on February 12, 1913, to count Electoral Higher votes for the 1912 presidential ballot.

Since 1887, 3 U.s.a.C. 15 has set the method for objections past Members of Congress to electoral votes. During the Joint Session, lawmakers may object to individual electoral votes or to state returns as a whole. An objection must be declared in writing and signed by at least one Representative and i Senator. In the example of an objection, the Joint Session recesses and each chamber considers the objection separately for no more 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.

• Objections to the Electoral College votes were recorded in 1969, 2005, and 2021. In all cases, the House and Senate rejected the objections and the votes in question were counted.

Amending the Process

Originally, the Electoral College provided the Constitutional Convention with a compromise between two main proposals: the pop election of the President and the election of the President past Congress.

/tiles/non-collection/i/i_electoral_college_photo_1953_hc_2008_130_30.xml Collection of the U.S. Firm of Representatives
Well-nigh this object The 1953 electoral vote count alleged Dwight D. Eisenhower the winner.

• Prior to 1804, electors made no distinction between candidates when voting for president and vice president; the candidate with the majority of votes became President and the candidate with the 2d-most votes became Vice President. The Twelfth Subpoena—proposed in 1803 and ratified in 1804—inverse that original procedure, requiring electors to split up their votes and denote who they voted for as President and Vice President. Run across Electoral Higher and Indecisive Elections for more data.
• The District of Columbia has had three electors since the Twenty-3rd Amendment was ratified in 1961.

In that location 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.

• Five times a candidate has won the popular vote and lost the ballot. Andrew Jackson in 1824 (to John Quincy Adams); Samuel Tilden in 1876 (to Rutherford B. Hayes); Grover Cleveland in 1888 (to Benjamin Harrison); Al Gore in 2000 (to George W. Bush); Hillary Clinton in 2022 (to Donald J. Trump).

The closest Congress has come to amending the Electoral Higher since 1804 was during the 91st Congress (1969–1971) when the House passed H.J. Res. 681 which would have eliminated the Electoral College birthday and replaced it with the direct ballot of a President and Vice President (and a run off if no candidate received more than forty pct of the vote). The resolution cleared the House 338 to 70, simply failed to laissez passer the Senate.

Contingent Elections

In the case of an Electoral College deadlock or if no candidate receives the bulk of votes, a "contingent election" is held. The election of the President goes to the Firm of Representatives. Each state delegation casts a single vote for one of the superlative three contenders from the initial election to determine a winner.

• Only 2 Presidential elections (1800 and 1824) have been decided in the House.
• Though non officially a contingent election, in 1876, Due south Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana submitted certificates of elections for both candidates. A bipartisan committee of Representatives, Senators, and Supreme Courtroom Justices, reviewed the ballots and awarded all 3 state'southward electoral votes to Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, who won the presidency by a single electoral vote.
• Run across Balloter Higher and Indecisive Elections for more information on Contingent Elections.

/tiles/non-drove/i/i2_electoral_college_pass_hc_2007_203_00.xml Collection of the U.Due south. House of Representatives
About this object This laissez passer for the Balloter Higher's 1937 vote count was used over again the same day for the President's annual bulletin.

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Source: https://history.house.gov/Institution/Electoral-College/Electoral-College/