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Electoral College Facts
There are 538 electors in the Electoral College. This number is based on the size of the US Congress (435 members) and the US Senate (100 members) plus 3 for the District of Colombia.
435+100+3 = 538
Puerto Rico and other US territories do not participate in the presidential elections, or any other Federal elections, although they do participate in the presidential primaries
Each State and the District of Colombia are given a minimum of 3 electoral voters. The rest are distributed according to population. Because each state gets 3 to start with, some States are under represented and some are over represented in the Electoral College.
For instance, California would get 10 more electors and Texas would get 6 more if the electors of the Electoral College were distributed on the basis of population alone.
The presidency is decided when a candidate receives at least 270 electoral votes. 270 is half plus one
538/2 =269. 269+1= 270.
If no candidate receives at least 270 votes in the Electoral College, then the US House of Representatives decides who the next President is.
The House can only choose from the top three Presidential candidates chosen by the Electoral College. If a candidate were to receive so much as one Electoral College vote, then that candidate would be eligible for consideration by the House, that is, in the event that no candidate for President received at least 270 Electoral College votes.
The Electoral College votes are cast in December but they are not counted until the first week in January.
The current House of Representatives will NOT count the Electoral College votes.
The 114th Congress is currently in office.
The entire House of Representatives is elected every two years and takes office the first week in January. We elect the 115th Congress in November at the same time as we cast our ballots for President.
The 115th Congress will count the Electoral College Votes and in the event that no candidate receives 270 votes, then they will decide the President.
There will be 50 votes cast if the election is decided by the House.
It will NOT be a one man, one vote affair. Each State will cast one vote. The Representatives from each State will caucus and cast one vote for each State. The candidate receiving the most votes from the top three will then be elected as President.
The US Senate chooses the Vice President in the event of a plurality in the Electoral College.
Each Senator gets one vote for VP, but unlike the President, the VP shall be chosen from only the two highest vote getters in the Electoral College.
At least two thirds of the Senate must be present for the vote to select the VP and a majority of the number present is the deciding factor. In simple terms, the VP could be elected by as few as 34 votes from the US Senate should there be no majority in the Electoral College.
A scenario that could develop with the current field of candidates should the Congress decide the President and VP in the unlikely event that an independent or 3rd party candidate were awarded as little as 3 votes in the Electoral College would be that Jill Stein could be elected President and Mike Pence could be elected VP.
Twenty nine of the fifty states have state laws in place that require their electors in the Electoral College to cast their Electoral votes for the candidate receiving the highest number of votes in their state.
There are twenty one states that have no such requirement, so despite a candidate winning a state’s popular vote, the elector is not bound to cast his vote for that candidate. Any elector in any of these twenty one states could cast his vote different than the popular vote in his state or could even abstain from casting a ballot which could have the result of forcing the Presidential election into the House of Representatives and the election of the Vice President into the US Senate.
When they count our votes tomorrow, our vote for members of the House could ultimately decide who is our next President.
© Michael A Acree
There are 538 electors in the Electoral College. This number is based on the size of the US Congress (435 members) and the US Senate (100 members) plus 3 for the District of Colombia.
435+100+3 = 538
Puerto Rico and other US territories do not participate in the presidential elections, or any other Federal elections, although they do participate in the presidential primaries
Each State and the District of Colombia are given a minimum of 3 electoral voters. The rest are distributed according to population. Because each state gets 3 to start with, some States are under represented and some are over represented in the Electoral College.
For instance, California would get 10 more electors and Texas would get 6 more if the electors of the Electoral College were distributed on the basis of population alone.
The presidency is decided when a candidate receives at least 270 electoral votes. 270 is half plus one
538/2 =269. 269+1= 270.
If no candidate receives at least 270 votes in the Electoral College, then the US House of Representatives decides who the next President is.
The House can only choose from the top three Presidential candidates chosen by the Electoral College. If a candidate were to receive so much as one Electoral College vote, then that candidate would be eligible for consideration by the House, that is, in the event that no candidate for President received at least 270 Electoral College votes.
The Electoral College votes are cast in December but they are not counted until the first week in January.
The current House of Representatives will NOT count the Electoral College votes.
The 114th Congress is currently in office.
The entire House of Representatives is elected every two years and takes office the first week in January. We elect the 115th Congress in November at the same time as we cast our ballots for President.
The 115th Congress will count the Electoral College Votes and in the event that no candidate receives 270 votes, then they will decide the President.
There will be 50 votes cast if the election is decided by the House.
It will NOT be a one man, one vote affair. Each State will cast one vote. The Representatives from each State will caucus and cast one vote for each State. The candidate receiving the most votes from the top three will then be elected as President.
The US Senate chooses the Vice President in the event of a plurality in the Electoral College.
Each Senator gets one vote for VP, but unlike the President, the VP shall be chosen from only the two highest vote getters in the Electoral College.
At least two thirds of the Senate must be present for the vote to select the VP and a majority of the number present is the deciding factor. In simple terms, the VP could be elected by as few as 34 votes from the US Senate should there be no majority in the Electoral College.
A scenario that could develop with the current field of candidates should the Congress decide the President and VP in the unlikely event that an independent or 3rd party candidate were awarded as little as 3 votes in the Electoral College would be that Jill Stein could be elected President and Mike Pence could be elected VP.
Twenty nine of the fifty states have state laws in place that require their electors in the Electoral College to cast their Electoral votes for the candidate receiving the highest number of votes in their state.
There are twenty one states that have no such requirement, so despite a candidate winning a state’s popular vote, the elector is not bound to cast his vote for that candidate. Any elector in any of these twenty one states could cast his vote different than the popular vote in his state or could even abstain from casting a ballot which could have the result of forcing the Presidential election into the House of Representatives and the election of the Vice President into the US Senate.
When they count our votes tomorrow, our vote for members of the House could ultimately decide who is our next President.
© Michael A Acree
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