U.S. electoral college

[ChaoZ]

Ok, so when we vote, we actually vote for electors. But how are electors chosen? On the ballot it lists the presidential candidates and not electors. Since electors are the ones that actually vote for president, then what's the point of the people doing it?

Yea, I'm confused. Need some clarification.

 

[tec699]

P&N?

😕

 

[Ryan]

http://people.howstuffworks.com/electoral-college.htm

 

[ElFenix]

the electors are party hacks that say they will vote for a particular presidential candidate. it was supposed to be a cross between a parliamentary system (which the founders feared) and mob rule democracy (which the founders feared)

 

[wfbberzerker]

it began in the old days because there really was no way to inform the masses about the candidates, and the majority of the people didnt know who to vote for. so the idea was, have joe farmer would vote for an elector he KNEW, and then trust that elector with the job of making the decision of voting for the better candidate.

nowadays, our states just have everyone vote for the president, because everyone pretty much knows about the candidates. almost all of the states (except colorado) have a system wherein the candidate with the most votes picks all of the electors, who (in theory) will vote for him. now, its always possible an elector could vote the other way if they wanted to, but the candidate usually picks extremely trustworthy people.

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
the electors are party hacks that say they will vote for a particular presidential candidate. it was supposed to be a cross between a parliamentary system (which the founders feared) and mob rule democracy (which the founders feared)

It was supposed to make it so the large states couldn't dominate the smaller ones.

It is basically a system where each state is given a set amount of electoral votes based on its population. Each state gets a minimum of three. They are typically awarded based on however the population of the state votes, which is usually a winner-takes-all system. (I.e. say Dubya won Texas with a 65% 35% vote, but instead of splitting the votes along those, he will win the whole state)

 

[ChaoZ]

So in the above example, the Republican party will entirely choose the electors?

 

[Taggart]

Originally posted by: tec699
P&N?

😕

 

[mercanucaribe]

Basically it means that citizens in low population states, IE people with more land, have more political power.

 

[cubby1223]

After 2000, a lot of people came out in opposition to the electoral college... but I think that election shows exactly why we do need it. Think about all the chaos in Florida trying to recount votes time after time. If we had a true popular vote, that chaos would now be on a nationwide scale... scary.