Electoral College (United States)
The Electoral College consists of the popularly elected representatives (“electors”) who formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States. Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each Presidential election.[1] Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution specifies how many electors to which each state is entitled and that each state’s legislature decides how its electors are to be chosen; U.S. territories are not represented in the Electoral College. In 2008, the electors voted on December 15. The Electoral College is an example of an indirect election. Rather than directly voting for the President and Vice President, United States citizens cast votes for electors. Electors are technically free to vote for anyone eligible to be President, but in practice pledge to vote for specific candidates[2] and voters cast ballots for favored Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates by voting for correspondingly pledged electors.
