Explainer: In time for November, a schooling in the Electoral College

By Jack Sells, Special to TheStatehouseFile.com 

There are three sure-fire ways to know when we’re getting close to Election Day:

1. You’re stressfully watching the Colts play on a Sunday afternoon and seemingly every break in the gameplay is filled with political ads.
2. Neighbors on opposite sides of the political spectrum are engaged in Cold War conflicts, filling their front yards up with signs that increase in their passive aggressiveness with every new addition.
3. There’s a sudden interest in the Electoral College.

Of those three things, though—television ads, yard signs and the Electoral College—it’s the last that truly only comes into play every four years during the presidential election.

Mandated by the Constitution, the Electoral College is the process for deciding the president and vice president. Whichever ticket can win 270 of the 538 total electoral votes wins the election.

Not only is it pretty unique compared to how other countries elect their leaders, the Electoral College is unique compared to how we elect other government officials within the United States.

If you haven’t thought much about the institution since you were forced to learn about it in high school, use this as a refresher. And if you never learned about it, well, here’s your chance.

Text of the Constitution

First of all, we aren’t using the same system that was created in 1787 during the Constitutional Convention.

Originally, back when political parties weren’t as prevalent in the United States, the second-place finisher would become vice president. But after an instance of the president and vice president being from different parties (take a moment and imagine if Donald Trump was currently the vice president to Joe Biden), the 12th Amendment was drafted and ratified to make it so there were different votes for the two positions.

Article II of the U.S. Constitution discusses the executive branch, and specifically Clauses II – IV of Article II, Section I break down the role of the Electoral College and electors.

Here it is in simplified terms:

States pick their electors and each should have as many electors as they have senators and representatives in Congress.

Federal officeholders cannot be electors. (The 14th Amendment, which came after the Civil War, also says electors can’t have previously engaged in insurrection.)

Each state’s electors meet and vote for president and vice president.

The electors also make lists of every candidate and how many votes they received.

The lists are sent to Washington, D.C.

The Electoral College in practice

One of the upshots of the Electoral College is that when you vote for a president-vice president in tandem, you’re actually voting for that state party’s electors.

For example, in Indiana, each state party selects 11 electors and 11 alternative electors—generally at their respective conventions.

This means that the Indiana Republican Party has electors if Trump and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance receive the most votes in the state, and the Indiana Democratic Party has electors if Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz receive the most votes.

For whichever ticket takes the state, that party’s slate of electors will meet in the Indiana Statehouse in December to cast their votes.

But it’s really just a formality due to Indiana state law. They are required to vote for their party’s nominees. If an elector tries to vote for anyone else, the elector is replaced with an alternate.

Thirty-five other states and Washington, D.C., have similar requirements that make faithless electors either impossible or highly unlikely.

And even for the states that don’t, the political parties in those states are selecting electors based at least in part on the person’s dedication to the party.

This is why, on Election Night, news outlets report as if the electoral votes go straight to candidates, as opposed to electors who later vote for candidates. In reality, the middle step isn’t all that relevant to figuring out who’s winning the electoral votes.

What to take to your Election Night Watch party

For those wanting to impress friends and family with their knowledge about the Electoral College, may I humbly suggest that’s not going to work.

But if you insist on it, remember:

• The Electoral College process is written in the U.S. Constitution.
• It was changed so that the runner-up wouldn’t become vice president.
• The number of electoral votes a state has is based on how many representatives and senators it has. For Indiana, that means 11 electoral votes.
• The political party whose ticket gets the most votes in Indiana will have all 11 of its electors chosen.
• Those electors will meet in December, and by Indiana law, they are required to vote for their party’s nominees.
• And, of course, first one to 270 wins!

Award-winning TSF reporter Jack Sells graduated from Franklin College in spring 2024. He currently teaches social studies at an Indianapolis high school.