Electoral College
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The Electoral College has been around since the beginning of our country. It is a body of electors chosen by all of the states and is responsible for selecting the president of the United States. This system was set up because the Framers did not have enough faith in America's population or in the national legislature. Article II in the Constitution states that, "Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of Electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States shall be appointed an Elector." This basically states that according to the number of senators or representatives of a certain state will determine how many electoral votes that state will have in the every election.
In the beginning electors where to cast a disinterested vote for president, and these electors where to be chosen by the state legislature. Then in 1828 all the states except South Carolina had the electors be chosen by a direct popular election. Most of the states passed laws insuring that the electors voted for the candidate receiving the most popular votes in that specific state. Electors are chosen by the voters on the first Tuesday of November and then meet in their state capitals on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December where they cast their vote for president and vice president. Then the votes are opened and counted during a Congressional session on January 6th following the election year...