The United States of America was founded by what many consider the social elite of their time. This socially elite group which included George Washington our nations first President, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin contributed to help create what is one of the most respected and well known written documents ever produced, the Constitution of the United States of America. In this document the laws of the land and an entire system of Government was laid out. One of the important sections covered included the establishment of an executive branch headed by a President, and a specific means by which this President was to be installed into office. First devised by the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the Electoral College as it is known was a compromise between the delegates who favored direct popular election of the President, and those whom felt that the President should be elected by Congress. The Electoral College was put in place in an attempt to distribute the power of those whom elect the President. From history, we all know that distribution of power was one of the major concerns facing the framers of the Constitution.
How the Electoral College works .
The Electoral College is currently (as of the 2000 election) made up of 538 electors. This number can and will change however, according to population changes in upcoming years, as determined using statistics from the United States Census Bureau. Each state is given a certain number of electors based the number of Representatives it has in the House, and an additional two electors which represent the number of Senators each state has. For example, California has 52 votes per its number of representatives (1 for each representative) and 2 per it number of Senators (1 for each Senator), for a total of 54 electoral votes. No state has fewer than three (3) electoral votes. To be elected President, a candidate must receive a majority (currently, at least 270) of the total electoral votes.