Citizens vote for electors who vote for the How is the President elected? The Electoral College Citizens vote for electors who vote for the President in the Electoral College.

Electoral College Map

Steps in electing the President Primary Elections – Each political party has a primary election to determine who will represent the party in the general election. Electors are chosen for the Democratic and the Republican Candidates. General Election – citizens vote for the Democratic or the Republican candidate. The votes are counted for each state. The candidate with the highest number of “popular votes” (people’s votes) wins all of the electoral votes for that state. The winner’s electors vote in the Electoral College

CAMPAIGN TIMELINE Candidates declare their intention to run for the office of president. States hold primaries and caucuses to choose delegates for national party conventions. Delegates at national party conventions choose Republican and Democratic nominees for president and vice president. On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, the electors from all 50 states vote for president and vice president. On January 6, the President of the Senate counts the electoral votes. To win the election, a candidate must receive one half of the total votes plus one vote. Democratic and Republican candidates campaign for their party's nomination. Independent candidates circulate petitions to qualify for a certificate of nomination. On the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, voters choose presidential electors in a general election. Independent candidates campaign for public support. On January 20, the new president and vice president are inaugurated. © 2004 by Education World®. Education World grants users permission to reproduce this work sheet for educational purposes only.

The Electoral College The Electoral College has 538 electors (three for Washington D.C.) Each state has the same number of electoral votes as they have representatives in Congress (Senators + Representatives). Alabama has 9 electors, 7 for Representatives and 2 for Senators. Each state’s popular vote (citizens’ votes) determines which electors will vote in the Electoral College.

does the Electoral College meet to cast its votes? When December! The electors for the winning candidate meet in each state’s capital and cast their votes. Congress counts the votes when its session begins in January. If no candidate receives a majority, the House of Representatives chooses the President. However, each state only gets one vote. The Senate chooses the Vice-President.

do we have the Electoral College? Why The Framers (writers) of the Constitution did not believe that common citizens would be educated enough to elect the president and that only celebrities would ever be popular enough to get a majority of the citizens’ votes. Therefore, they believed that most elections would be decided by the House of Representatives. They did not know that political parties would develop and help their candidates get elected.

In summary... When citizens vote for president, they are not voting directly for any candidate. Instead, citizens are voting for a group of electors to vote for the president in the Electoral College