WHY DO WE HAVE THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE? HOW DOES IT WORK? SHOULD WE HAVE
DIRECT ELECTIONS? WHY?

Hello--

We have the electoral college because our Founding Fathers needed a
fair way to conduct presidential elections. They were facing the issue
of how to elect a president in a country that had 13 small and large
states that were all jealous of each other and were not exactly
excited about the idea of having one national government. The Founding
Fathers wanted to be fair to the individual powers of the states while
giving the vote to the people. So they divided up the number of votes
in the Electoral College based on each state's population.

The political parties in each state submit a list of individuals who
have stated their allegiance to the candidate the state will vote for.
This list will have the same number of people as the number of votes
the state has in the Electoral College. These individuals become the
"electors." On the Monday following the second Wednesday of December
members of the Electoral College meet in their respective state
capitals and cast their electoral votes for president and vice
president.

Today, the idea of having direct elections instead of working through
an Electoral College makes more sense. We live in a different time
than our Founding Fathers did. States are no longer competing for
rights in the manner they were 230 years ago. Direct elections would
truly mean that the candidate for president who has the most support
would become president.


Below is a list of each state and the number of Electoral College
votes they have.

Total Electoral Vote: 538 Needed to Elect: 270 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State 1981-1990 1991-2000 
Alabama 9 9 
Alaska 3 3 
Arizona 7 8 
Arkansas 6 6 
California 47 54 
   
Colorado 8 8 
Connecticut 8 8 
Delaware 3 3 
D.C. 3 3 
Florida 21 25 
   
Georgia 12 13 
Hawaii 4 4 
Idaho 4 4 
Illinois 24 22 
Indiana 12 12 
   
Iowa 8 7 
Kansas 7 6 
Kentucky 9 8 
Louisiana 10 9 
Maine 4 4 
   
Maryland 10 10 
Massachusetts 13 12 
Michigan 20 18 
Minnesota 10 10 
Mississippi 7 7 
   
Missouri 11 11 
Montana 4 3 
Nebraska 5 5 
Nevada 4 4 
New Hampshire 4 4 
   
New Jersey 16 15 
New Mexico 5 5 
New York 36 33 
North Carolina 13 14 
North Dakota 3 3 
   
Ohio 23 21 
Oklahoma 8 8 
Oregon 7 7 
Pennsylvania 25 23 
Rhode Island 4 4 
   
South Carolina 8 8 
South Dakota 3 3 
Tennessee 11 11 
Texas 29 32 
Utah 5 5 
   
Vermont 3 3 
Virginia 12 13 
Washington 10 11 
West Virginia 6 5 
Wisconsin 11 11 
Wyoming 3 3 
   

Last Update: 2/18/97 

Name: Hancock 


You may read about the Electoral College at the Federal Elections
Commission's web site. The link is
http://www.fec.gov/pages/ecmenu2.htm

You may read more about how the Electoral College works at the Federal
Elections Commission's web site. The link is
http://www.fec.gov/pages/ecworks.htm

You may read about the distribution of votes in the Electoral College.
The link is http://www.fec.gov/pages/elecvote.htm

You may read a brief history of the Electoral College along with the
pros and cons of it. The link is http://www.fec.gov/pdf/eleccoll.pdf

I hope this helps!

darrel-ga

Don't overlook Hamilton's Federalist #68, available on the Avagara website:
http://www.avagara.com/e_c/reference/00012601.htm