Electoral College: Main Ideas
- The Electoral College involves a system, established by the country's founding fathers, that is intended to provide more balance between big cities and rural areas in deciding who should be president and vice president.
- The Electoral College is an example of an indirect election in which every individual's vote is not registered uniquely. Voters select electors, primarily from either the Republican or Democratic parties, who have committed to vote for the candidates from those respective parties when they receive the most votes in a state.
- Two states, Maine and Nebraska, allow for a split of electors in presidential elections.
- Between Election Day and the certification of the vote, several steps occur that involve states and their electors.
- Faithless electors throughout history have defied expectations and voted for someone other than their party's presidential candidate. None of these situations have resulted in a different outcome for a presidential election.
Electoral College. (2024). Gale U.S. History Online Collection.
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