Election Lesson

 Why do was have an Electoral College?

You got to remember that the 13 colonies were different places. 

Some were established for economic reasons. They were mostly plantation based, and were based around cash crops, such as tobacco.

Others were established for religious reasons, and they set it up that if you lived in that colony, you pretty much had to practice that certain faith. 

And these colonies did not always trade with one another. Many had more contact and traded more with England than the other colonies. 

There really wasn't anything that tied the 13 Colonies together other than location and the fact they were all English colonies. 

Even after the American Revolution, the 13 Colonies, only cared for the colony/state now that they were now a nation separate from England...They were concerned about the individual states power, versus the national government. 

And the states are different, the state of Georgia is totally different than the state of Rhode Island. For example. 

And so many historical moments involve states not wanting to do something the national government is wanting to impose on them. ( Example, Arkansas did not want to de-segregate schools in the 1950s, and Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne to Little Rock to de-segregate the schools.)

As it's been said by former Speaker of the House Thomas "Tip" O'Neill. " All politics is local." And the states run the elections, and the states are the electors of national offices. Thus, the states having their own laws, their own identity.

Each state gets 2 members of the US Senate. 50 states times 2, 100 senators. 

There are 435 members of the US House of Representatives, and they are divided up by population, with each state getting at least 1 member of the US House....Wyoming, Vermont for example only get one member of the US House. No one lives in those 2 states. 

Each state has electors according to the number of members of the Senate and US House that state has in the US Congress.

For example, Texas has 2 senators and 38 members of the US House. That means Texas has 40 votes 2+38=40, in the Electoral College. Texas has the second biggest population, thus the second large number of votes in the Electoral College.

Vermont which only has 1 member of the US House and 2 members of the US Senate has 3 votes 1+2=3, in the Electoral College. 

So, why was this done like this? It was done so that each state would have some input in the actual presidential election. So, instead of adding up the popular vote, we add up the 535 Electors to determine the president. Reach 270 Electoral Votes, the threshold over 50% and you are elected president....

Now for a wrinkle, Washington DC, is also allowed to vote for president, and while they do not have a member of the House or Senate, because the fewest members of the Electoral College a state can have is 3, then DC was given 3 Electoral Votes. 

So, there are 537 members of the Electoral College. Still 270 to be elected president. 

When we vote, state actually is voting for electors. Those electors in turn, however many from each state according to population vote for president.