The Electoral College: What is it and how does it work?

With the presidential election nearing, there seems to be some confusion or misunderstanding about the Electoral College and the role it pays.

The Electoral College is a body of electors established by the U.S. Constitution, which forms every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president of the United States. The Electoral College consists of 538 electors, and an absolute majority of at least 270 electoral votes is required to win the election

The electors of each state, equal in number to its members in Congress, are expected to cast their votes for the candidates selected by the popular vote in their state. This ensures the election of the president and vice president is based on popular vote in addition to the congressional vote.

They are governed by the Office of the Federal Registrar, guaranteeing the Electors have all the certification and experience required to represent their state in the presidential election.

How the Electoral College Works

Electors are appointed to their position in the Electoral College by their affiliation with political parties. They are appointed during party conventions or by a vote of the party’s primary committee in each state.

Every state is represented by a different number of Electors, and the number each state gets is based on a state’s number of senators and representatives. There are always exactly two senators in each state. The number of representatives varies according to the state. Arizona has nine representatives.

On the day of the general election, individuals cast their vote – the popular vote – for their chosen candidate by using a ballot. The ballots are tabulated and results are issued to the electors. The final vote is left up to the Electors in each state.

Typically, the votes of the electors follow the popular vote. But there is no federal law that states electors must do this. Some states require the elector to vote with the popular vote.

These electoral votes are then tabulated similar to the popular vote to determine the presidential and vice presidential winners.

If there is a tie between elector votes in each state, a tie breaker is performed. The tie-breaking process is different for each state.

The Electoral College was never intended to be the “perfect” system for picking the president.

Five times in history, presidential candidates have won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College. The debate continues to this day why Americans use this system to elect their presidents in the first place.

It will be interesting to see in the upcoming elections if the popular vote agrees with the Electoral College as it decides our next president and vice president.

Joan Koczor is a senior advocate and a member of the Age-Friendly Maricopa Advisory Committee.

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This column appears in the October issue of InMaricopa.