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How the Electoral College Works
ReutersA guide to the complex system the United States uses to select a president.
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This is the first part in Pocket’s guide to the Electoral College. For a roundup of the best arguments for and against the system, as well as possible alternatives, see Debating the Electoral College.
American presidential elections are a strange beast. When Americans go to vote for their preferred presidential candidate in November of election years, they are actually voting for the state electors who have pledged to support that candidate in the Electoral College. Only in December do the 538 members of the Electoral College cast their votes for president, officially deciding who will take the oath of office in January.
Read on to understand how the Electoral College works, its history and evolution, and other quirks of America’s unique system for electing a president.
Image by Keith Lance/Getty Images
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Why Was the Electoral College Created?
History.comThe Founding Fathers had to compromise when it came to devising a system to elect the president.
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The Evolution of the Electoral College
New-York Historical SocietyToday’s process would be unrecognizable to the nation’s founders, who imagined it as an indirect and deliberative system with considerably narrower public participation.
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How Much Does Your Vote Weigh?
Saturday Evening PostThe electoral college outcome doesn’t always reflect the popular vote, but that’s not the only factor that determines how influential your vote is.
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Presidential Battleground States Change All the Time
New YorkIn politics, as in military conflict, there is a tendency among generals and journalists alike to fight the last war. But battlegrounds often change.
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Why Electoral College Landslides Are Easier To Win Than Popular Vote Ones
Pew Research CenterThe very nature of the way the U.S. picks its presidents tends to create a disconnect between the outcome in the Electoral College and the popular vote.
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When Republicans Were Blue and Democrats Were Red
Smithsonian MagazineThe notion that there were “red states” and “blue states”—and that the former were Republican and the latter Democratic—wasn’t cemented on the national psyche until the year 2000.
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Debating the Electoral College
Pocket CollectionsA roundup of the best arguments for and against America’s unique system for electing a president. Plus, a look at possible alternatives.