Electoral College System
...omprised of 538 Electors/people. Members of congress and employees of the federal government are prohibited from serving as an elector. The process begins with the submission of a list from the political parties in each state. This list consists of individuals pledged to their candidate for president to the state’s chief election official. The list is equal in number to the state’s electoral votes. After their caucuses and primaries are held, the major parties nominate their candidate for president and vice-president. Traditionally this is held at their national conventions, the summer preceding the election. The national election for the presidential candidates is held every four years on the Tuesday following the first Monday of November. This is when the people in each state cast their ballots for the party slate of Electors representing their choice for president and vice-president. Whichever party slate wins the most popular votes in the state becomes that States Electors. What this means is that whichever presidential ticket gets the most popular votes in a state wins all the Electors of that state. This applies to all of the states with the exception of Maine and Nebraska. They both operate under a system in which two electors are chosen by statewide popular vote and the remainder by popular vote within each Congressional district. Out of the 538 Electors, 270 are needed nationally to be elected. However this process can not be considered finalized until the Electors meet and officially vote on the candidates. On the Monday following the second Wednesday of December each state’s Electors meet in their respective state capitals and cast their electoral votes. Each person (Elector) casts two votes, one being for president and the other for vice-president. These electoral votes are then sealed and transmitted from each state to the President of the Senate. On January sixth he then opens and reads them before both houses of the Congress. The candidate for president and vice-president with the most electoral votes (absolute majority) are declared president and vice-president. As has happened before there can be a situation where no one obtains an absolute majority of the ele...