Formation of electoral college

The process begins when the electors for each state are chosen, then they meet to select a president. The process is finalized when the votes cast are counted by the Congress. In totality, the number of electors is 538, and a vying president has to have a minimum of 270 votes to get the seat. Each state has electors equal to the people in Congress1 (Kimberling& William, 1992). Furthermore, two senators are added to the electors. Whether or not he won the popular vote does not count, because it is the Electoral College votes that determine the president. Procedure 6th of January at noon the vice president looks at the votes from every state. After viewing the ballots, they are confirmed by four other people, two from the Senate and two from the house.

They then announce the results. After the count is completed, the vice president then gives the name of the next president. If there weren't a person who got the most votes, then the House of Representatives would vote in a president. The Representatives would vote on the top five contestants and vote on them. If there were two candidates in the second position, then the Senate had to decide on who would get the seat. The Convention was not for the plan, but the public agreed with the idea. It should be noted that it was made at a time when slavery was still a reality, and most of the people were not in support of slaves and other minorities have a direct say in the presidency. It favored significant political parties over smaller political parties, because they had more supporters, and their candidates could get more votes.

Furthermore, it favored states that had higher populations, over those that had lower people, or had their inhabitants spread all over the country. Maine and Nebraska are the only states that employed a district system, whereby each district's winner could vote, and the overall state winner had two votes. Support for the Electoral College Individuals in favor of the Electoral College process state that it provides a president who is favored by the federative majority. They also state that the president chosen through this method has more support from many states, which indicates that he can unify the many states and different political parties. When it came to electoral votes, he had no votes, which is not fair to the general public, because their choice of a candidate is not considered.

The outcome of the Electoral College is undemocratic at most times because the person chosen is often put into the presidency with other agendas in mind and not the general public's interests. The electors vote along political lines and will vote in their candidate even though he is not fit to be president. Furthermore, there is the possibility that an elector will vote for a candidate that was not agreed on. One can vote for anyone, because the voting process is private, and can only be done once- therefore, if an elector does not keep their end of the promise, then the outcome will be undesirable for the people who put their faith in him/her. This system has been in place since 1887, and any objection has to be given in writing to Congress3 (Shaw& Daron, 2008).

The opposition also has to have a signature from a senator and a representative. Each objection is handled individually, where every chamber seats in separately, and each person is given less than five minutes to present their reasons for the complaints. These sit-ins cannot last for more than two hours. Each chamber votes on whether to agree on the objection or to toss it. The supporters of this system state that it is the best method because it includes all states. Opponents state that it is undemocratic because a candidate can win the popular vote, but fail the Electoral College votes. Thus, the president who is sworn in does not represent the people's choice. Bibliography 1Kimberling, William C.  The electoral college.