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Answers to Go

Answers to Go

Sunday, November 22, 2020

San Marcos Public Library

625 E. Hopkins St.

512-393-8200

What is the Q.Electoral College and how does it work?

The Electoral A. College is the system by which the citizens of the United States indirectly elect their president and vice president every four years. According to the United States National Archives (archives. gov/electoral-college/about)

“The Founding Fathers established it [the Electoral College] in the Constitution, in part, as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens. The Electoral College process consists of the selection of the electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress.” Each state gets the same number of electoral votes in the electoral college as it has total seats in Congress (number of Representatives plus number of Senators). That equals 535 seats in Congress, and therefore 535 electors. In addition to those, Washington D.C. gets three electors per the terms of the 23rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which comes to a total of 538 electors in the electoral college. To win the presidency, a candidate must receive 270 electoral votes.

When you cast your vote for a candidate during the election, you are actually voting for the electors who have pledged to vote for this candidate. This slate of electors is generally chosen by the candidate’s political party in your state.

There are very few requirements for becoming an elector, except that you cannot be a Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States. You can find the names of the electors in your state by searching online for the name of your state and “Certificate of Ascertainment.” I found the list of Texas electors from the 2016 election here: archives.gov/files/ electoral-college/2016/ascertainment-texas.pdf.

In all but two states, the candidate who wins the popular vote gets all of the state’s electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska, however, will allow for a split vote where two electoral votes go to the state popular vote winner, and then one electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each Congressional district.

The meeting of the electors takes place on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December after the general election, which will occur on December 14th this year. The electors meet in their states, where they cast their votes for President and Vice President on separate ballots.

Once the electors vote, Congress counts the electoral votes, and the candidates who get a majority of electoral votes are formally elected president and vice president. This count will occur on Jan. 6, 2021. The President-elect will take the oath of office and be sworn in as President of the United States on Jan. 20, 2021.

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666