Given these inescapable facts, we believe we have no choice but to vote to sustain objections to those slates of electors. Who was the first leader to assume a higher office through the clarification of the Twenty-fifth Amendment? Without the electoral college, groups such as Iowa farmers and Ohio factory workers would be ignored in favor of pandering to metropolitan areas with higher population densities, leaving rural areas and small towns marginalized. "You don't have to convince the public that the system is fair. "If no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the House of Representatives elects the president from the three presidential . Levine said the electoral college has the potential to keep Trump in power if a similar result unfolds this year. 30 seconds. Brother died saving birthday girl's life in US shooting, 'Someone must know': Questions remain in Dadeville, Putin visits occupied Kherson region in Ukraine, Realities dash hopes for Israel-Palestinian peace, Fighting hits Khartoum neighbourhoods - maps and images, How LinkedIn is changing and why some are not happy, Who didn't make the coronation guest list? Do electors have to vote for the candidate who won? WASHINGTON, D.C. 37 Republican members of Congress today issued the following statement in advance of the joint session of Congress at 1 p.m. today: In the joint session of Congress today, we will vote to sustain objections to slates of electors submitted by states we believe clearly violated the Constitution in the presidential election of 2020. 5. Then-Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi preside over a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 to certify the 2020 Electoral College results after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol earlier that day. If you would not change the voting process, make a list of reforms and why you would not choose to enact them. Digital media has had what impact on reporter-source relationships? There areexceptions to the urban-rural split, Levine said, as well as other competitive states thatmay not get as much attention due to their relatively low number of electoral college votes. Managing Editor A life sentence might be most unfair to a three-time offender whose last crime was. It happened in2016, whenTrump won a majority of electoral college votes despite falling short of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the popular vote by nearly three million. What do you want to know about the U.S. election? Each state must split its electoral votes among all the candidates that receive votes. Another way the Electoral College is unfair, says Harvard University political scientist Gautam Mukunda, is that each state gets electors based on its representation in the House and Senate, which means small states get extra votes. All content of site and practice tests copyright 2017 Max. and more. In the multi-candidate race of 1824, Andrew Jackson received the most popular votes, but with no man winning a majority of electoral votes, the House of Representatives chose John Quincy Adams to be president. This is why presidential candidates target specific "swing states" - states where the vote could go either way - rather than trying to win over as many voters as possible across the country. "You're not going to convince a majority of Americans that that's not how you should do it.". Our oath, nonetheless,is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same.Taking this action today will not undermine our beleaguered institutions, as some critics charge, but rather reinforce and defend them. Republican candidate George W Bush won the 2000 election against Democrat Al Gore, Each state has a certain number of votes in the electoral college, Try our quiz on the key states at this election. Follow Chris on Twitter @historyauthor. (E) Senators and representatives are prohibited from the electoral college by the Constitution. 32129. Updated: November 4, 2020 | Original: December 17, 2012. Yes. 4. Explore the Electoral College via the US National Archives. [3] [4] [5] [6], In each state, a group of electors is chosen by each political party. The existence of the Electoral College precluded calls for recounts or demands for run-off elections. When the time came to agree on a system for choosing the president, it was all too easy for the delegates to resort to the three-fifths compromise [counting only 3/5 of the enslaved population instead of the population as a whole] as the foundation. That usurpation of the legislatures sole authority, delegated by the Constitution, was a primary reason why the election of 2020 became riddled with an unprecedented number of serious allegations of fraud and irregularities. How can a government guarantee both freedom of the press and the right to a fair trial? (A) Forty-eight states allocate their electoral votes by the "winner-take-all" method. true or false: Women campaigned on a national level to obtain the right to vote following World War II. In 2005, when a Senator joined a House Members objection to the electoral votes cast in the State of Ohio citing voting irregularities, 31 House Democrats ultimately voted to reject Ohios slate of electors. The word "college" here simply refers to a group of people with a shared task. Yet our friends have overlooked a critical, first principle. The problem is that twice since 2000, the person with the most votes didn't win. What distinguishes the juvenile justice system from the adult justice system? Four years later, though, the collegeenabled Trump to secure power while losing the popular vote. "The fact that in presidential elections people in Wyoming have [nearly four] times the power of people in California is antithetical at the most basic level to what we say we stand for as a democracy," he said. c. It should be replaced with popular elections. The official general election results indicate that Trump received 304 Electoral College votes and 46.09% of the popular vote (62,984,825 votes), and Hillary Clinton received 227 Electoral College votes and 48.18% of the popular vote (65,853,516 votes). Privacy notice. On Jan. 6, 2017, a joint session of the US Congress met to certify the election results and Vice President Joe Biden, presiding as President of the Senate, read the certified vote tally. Opponents say would disadvantage low-income and blue collar workers. Maine has a similar proportional distribution, with two votes awarded to the statewide winner and its other two votes given to the winners in each of its two congressional districts. A Democratic win in 2020 may not lead to its abolishmenteither, Levine suggested, particularly if the winner-take-all structure of most electoral college votes plays to their advantage in future elections. The rules of the process are dictated by the 12th Amendment. READ MORE: How Are Electoral College Electors Chosen? Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Encyclopaedia Britannica/Universal Images Group via Getty Images, 5 Presidents Who Won the Election But Lost the Popular Vote. It's these closely balanced purple states that get the attention," Levine said. He holds a master's of journalism from the University of King's College in Halifax. In our unique system, Congress is positioned as the last bulwark in a presidential election to ensure the Constitution has been followed. True One reason that the justices take a preliminary vote is to discuss their reasoning. And for Republicans, the system, with all its minoritarian features the Electoral College, the U.S. Senate, the filibuster, partisan gerrymandering is, at least for now, working in their favor. [7] [8] [9], According to Alexander Hamilton, the Electoral College is if not perfect, it is at least excellent, because it ensured that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications. [7], Democratic Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak vetoed a measure in 2019 that would add the state to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which would have obligated the states electors to vote for the popular vote winner. Electors almost always do so anyway. This is our solemn duty, and our position on this threshold legal question has been widely known and published for weeks. (emphasis added). 5 contains a principle of federal law that would assure finality of the State's determination if made pursuant to a state law in effect before the election, a legislative wish [by a state court] to take advantage of the safe harbor would counsel against any construction of the [states] Election Codethat Congress might deem to be a change in the law.Id. 1,et seq. READ MORE: What Is the Electoral College and Why Was It Created? Electors vote based on the results of the popular vote the number of votes cast for each candidate by citizens in their respective states or districts, with the winner of the popular vote getting all of the electoral votes for the state in most cases. Alternatively, a candidate could win by a landslide and still pick up the same number of electoral votes. Instructions when nominated by the political party. After all, that's how we run every other election in this country, says Jesse Wegman, the author of Let the People Pick the President. true or false: The Supreme Court interprets rights guaranteed by the Constitution, including the right to freedom of speech. How Are Electoral College Electors Chosen? [3] [4] [5] [6], At least 700 amendments have been proposed to modify or abolish the Electoral College. true or false: Television and mass media have most influenced presidential campaigns and nominations by focusing attention on detailed comparisons of policy positions. Indeed, stating a variety of concerns, they have presented objections during the electoral count of each Republican president over the last 20 years. The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions.Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts European legislation, following a proposal by the European Commission.The Parliament is composed of 705 members (MEPs). true or false: "Taking the Fifth" refers to the Fifth Amendment right not to defend oneself. An earlier version of this story included a misspoken quote that said people in Wyoming have 44 times the power of people in California in presidential elections. When an objection is duly presented, Members of Congress may draw their own individual conclusions as they determine the validity of the electoral votes at issuebut, in light of the plain language of the Constitution, the Electoral Count Act, and theper curiamopinions of the Supreme Court, it simply cannot be said that we are not charged with the full responsibility of making such a determination. The measure would not be enacted until states. "The electoral college, from its very inception, has put the states in between the people and the president. (NC-03), Gary Palmer (AL-06), Dan Meuser (PA-09), Burgess Owens (UT-04), Bill Posey (FL-08), David Rouzer (NC-07), John Rutherford (FL-04), Adrian Smith (NE-03), Jason Smith (MO-08), W. Gregory Steube (FL-17), Tom Tiffany (WI-07), Tim Walberg (MI-07), Michael Waltz (FL-06), Randy Weber (TX-14), Daniel Webster (FL-11), and Joe Wilson (SC-02). Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. How are the First Amendment rights different from those in the British ruling system under which the colonists lived? v. Gore, et al., 531 U.S. 98, 113 (2000), Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, reiterated that [a] significant departure from the legislative scheme for appointing Presidential electors presents a federal constitutional question regarding the application of Art. That is why, as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg explained in her dissent (on other issues), although the Electoral Count Act identifies significant dates in the process of ascertaining and counting presidential electors, none of these dates has ultimate significance in light of Congress' detailed provisions for determining, on the sixth day of January, the validity of electoral votes. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than one million votes, yet still lost the election on electoral votes. [18], A Nov. 6, 2016 episode of PBS NewsHour revealed that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have made more than 90% of their campaign stops in just 11 so-called battleground states. Benjamin Blum is a producer with CBCNews.ca based in Toronto. Because of its considerable, nonvoting slave population, that region would have less clout under a popular-vote system. Very few people thought that way. Audience Relations, CBC P.O. The signers then implored their colleagues not to vote to reject the electors from battleground states, as Trump was asking them to do. B) The framers of the Constitution expected the Electoral College to use their own judgment in selecting a President. Electors are allocated based on the number of representatives a state has in the U.S. House of Representatives, which is determined by population, plus the number of senators two per state. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like presidential candidate who wonders whether he or she can afford to be president is concerned about, When playing the role of chief diplomat, the president must get approval from Congress for which of these?, Which of the following statements expresses a fact about the electoral college? But Brad Smith, who used to be on the Federal Election Commission, disagrees. [24], For the 2020 election, electors voted on Dec. 14, and delivered the results on Dec. 23. Three of Nebraskas five electoral votes are awarded to the winner of the popular vote in each of its three congressional districts, with the other two given to the statewide winner of the popular vote. Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP via Getty Images Our extraordinary republic has endured for nearly two and a half centuries based on the consent of the governed. The objection is expected to fail. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Slave owners in southern statesdidn't want majority rule particularly in states where enslaved people constituted the majority of the population and a direct vote for president. See answers Advertisement anthougo When search suggestions are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Should People Who Have Completed Felony Sentences Be Allowed to Vote? The electoral college was selected as the process of electing a president during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia. Republicans tend to win votes in small towns and rural areas," he said. And even when that doesn't happen, Wegman sees another problem with the Electoral College system. Why or why not? California has the most electors - 55 - while a handful of sparsely populated states like Wyoming, Alaska and North Dakota (and Washington DC) have the minimum of three. National polls indicate a large percentage of Americans now have serious doubts about not just the outcome of the current presidential contest, but also the future reliability of our election system itself. The peculiar system that emerged was the Electoral College. [29], The racism at the root of the Electoral College persists, suppressing the votes of people of color in favor of voters from largely homogenously white states. List of reforms and why you would not choose to enact them still pick up same... University of King 's College in Halifax to obtain the right to a three-time offender whose last was! Wegman sees another problem with the most votes did n't win College in Halifax `` you 're going. More: how are the first Amendment rights different from those in the British ruling under. Our extraordinary republic has endured for nearly two and a half centuries based on the consent of the press the. 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