Each State which includes the District of Columbia for this discussion decides how to appoint its electors. Currently all States use the popular vote results from the November general election to decide which political party chooses the individuals who are appointed. All States, except for Maine and Nebraska have a winner-take-all policy where the State looks only at the overall winner of the state-wide popular vote. Maine and Nebraska, however, appoint individual electors based on the winner of the popular vote for each Congressional district and then 2 electors based on the winner of the overall state-wide popular vote.
Even though Maine and Nebraska don't use a winner-take-all system, it is rare for either State to have a split vote. If all electors are appointed, electoral votes i.
The date for the meeting of the Electoral College is established by federal election law United States Code. Title 3, chapter 1, section 7. In , the designated day for the meeting of the Electoral College is Monday, December This date is set by a federal law enacted in , after the 20th Amendment changed the date for the presidential inauguration from March 4 to January The people have the right, under the U.
Constitution, to vote for U. The 17th Amendment ratified in gave the people the right to vote for U. Senators who were elected by state legislatures under the original Constitution.
Instead, the Constitution Article II, section 1, clause 2 provides:. In , the U. Supreme Court in Bush v. For instance, if the Democratic candidate won the popular vote in California, but the Republican candidate won the popular vote nationwide, California would be required to send the Republican slate of electors to the meeting of the electors. The NPV has not yet taken effect; states with a total of at least electoral votes must join before it can function.
Read more about the National Popular Vote. The idea of abolishing the Electoral College and instead electing the president by direct popular vote comes about every few years.
There are two ways to do that:. There is no federal law or constitutional provision requiring electors to vote for the party that nominated them, and over the years a number of electors have voted against the instructions of the voters. In , a Minnesota elector nominated by the Democratic Party cast a ballot for John Edwards, the vice presidential running mate of John Kerry--thought to be an accident.
Electors generally are selected by the political party for their party loyalty, and many are party leaders, and thus not likely to vote other than for their party's candidate. In , there were seven faithless electors, the most since —three Democratic electors from Washington state cast their votes for Republican Colin Powell, instead of Democrat Hillary Clinton; one Democratic elector from Washington state cast his vote for Faith Spotted Eagle, a woman who is a member of the Yankton Sioux Nation; one Democratic elector from Hawaii cast his vote for Bernie Sanders, instead of Hillary Clinton; one Republican elector from Texas cast his vote for John Kasich, instead of Donald Trump; and one Republican elector from Texas cast his vote for Libertarian Ron Paul.
The last time an elector crossed party lines was in , when an elector nominated by the Republican Party cast his ballot for the Libertarian ticket. Some states have passed laws that require their electors to vote as pledged. These laws may either impose a fine on an elector who fails to vote according to the statewide or district popular vote, or may disqualify an elector who violates his or her pledge and provide a replacement elector.
In July , the U. Supreme Court ruled that it is constitutional for states to enact this type of law. The states with laws that attempt to bind the votes of presidential electors are below:.
Most of the laws cited above require electors to vote for the candidate of the party that nominated the elector, or require the elector to sign a pledge to do so. In South Carolina, an elector who violates his or her pledge is subject to criminal penalties, and in New Mexico a violation is a fourth degree felony.
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