The Electoral College system was established in Article II of the Constitution and amended by the 12th Amendment in 1804.

Each state gets a number of electors equal to its number of members in the U.S. House of Representatives plus one for each of its two U.S. Senators. The District of Columbia gets three electors. While state laws determine how electors are chosen, they are generally selected by the political party committees within the states. While state laws determine how electors are chosen, they are generally selected by the political party committees within the states. Should none of the candidates win 270 electoral votes, the 12th Amendment kicks in and the election is decided by the House of Representatives. The combined representatives of each state get one vote and a simple majority of states is required to win. Then, in the middle of December, the president and vice president of the United States are really elected by the votes of only 538 citizens -- the "electors" of the Electoral College. Designed to

over-represent people in rural Statesrecognize state sovereignty.

The Electoral College has performed its function for over 200 years (and in over 50 presidential elections) by ensuring that the President of the United States has both sufficient popular support to govern and that his popular support is sufficiently distributed throughout the country to enable him to govern effectively. States are winner take all

Electoral College: Pros & Cons

Arguments for the Electoral College Certainty of Results Discourages 3rd Parties Precludes Possibility of National ReCount of Votes Keeps States as Integral Part of Presidential Selection Process Arguments Against the Electoral College Can Distort the Popular Choice Discourages 3rd Parties Disenfranchises Voters in States Which Support Electoral College Loser Allows for the "Faithless Elector"

Can Allow Presidential Election to be Keeps Small States as Viable Participants Decided by the House of Representatives Where Each States Has One Vote Establishes Campaign Need to Build It Is Archaic - Based on Political "Concurrent Majorities" Considerations No Longer Relevant Provides Chosen Candidate with a Gives Undue Power to "Swing States" Majority

A 1969 Maine law provides for this method, and similar legislation has been considered in several other states. Alternatively, the office of elector could be eliminated and the electoral votes of a state simply assigned to candidates on the basis of the popular vote each receives. Constitutional amendments to that effect have been introduced in Congress but none has passed. These changes might eliminate some distortion of the popular vote, but they would not answer the complaint that the people do not elect the president directly. Former Senator Birch Bayh repeatedly introduced a constitutional amendment providing for direct election of the president and the vice president. Under the Bayh plan, candidates for president and vice president would be required to run together in each state and the District of Columbia, and voters would make their choices directly, without any intervening slate of electors. If the candidate team with the most votes received at least 40 percent of the nationwide popular vote, that pair would be declared elected; if no pair received that amount there would be a runoff election between the two top pairs.