Legislating the ‘Faithless’ and Electoral College Systems
The Electoral College members for each United States Department of State are voted on by the land ’s occupier on vote Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . In some states , the electors ' names are printed on the ballots like a shot under the presidential campaigner ' names or aggroup by party somewhere else on the balloting . In other states , the names of electoral college campaigner are not even listed on the ballot .
When you vote for a presidential and vice - presidential candidate on the ballot , you are really voting for the electors of thepolitical party(or unaffiliated candidate ) by which they were nominated . Take the North Carolina General Statute § 163 - 209 , for example : " A voter turnout for the prospect forPresidentandVice - Presidentnamed on the ballot is a vote for the elector … " [ origin : North Carolina General Assembly ] .
This is the slip for 48 State Department . It ’s known as thewinner - take - all arrangement , where all electors go with the candidate who wins the popular vote disregarding of how end the ballot is . So if the popular campaigner narrowly wins the popular vote in Texas , for example , 38 Democratic Elector ( 38 being the full issue of electoral votes in the state ) will represent Texas as a voting engine block .
The other system , cognize as thecongressional district method acting , is respect in Maine and Nebraska . In these state , the voter turnout is break up between the electoral vote which go to the victor of the statewide popular voting and the congressional district vote . The state is divide into congressional dominion , each with one electoral vote . The winner of the democratic vote in each district is award an electoral vote . Potentially , this could result in a dual-lane electoral voter turnout but so far it has not happened in either state [ source : Cornell University Law School ] .
Most of the time , electors cast their votes for the prospect who has received the most votes in the commonwealth he or she represent , or for the candidate affiliated with his or her political party . However , there have been sentence when electors have vote contrary to the people ’s conclusion . When electors cast their vote without following the popular vote or their party vote , they are known asfaithless electors[source : Weingast ] .
In response to faithless electors ' actions , at least two dozen states have created laws to implement an voter ’s pledge to his or her political party voter turnout or the democratic voter turnout . Some country even valuate a misdemeanor charge and a amercement . For example , the body politic of North Carolina fines faithless voter $ 10,000 . However , a telephone number of scholars believe such state - stratum laws would not outlive constitutional challenge ; of the 158 faithless electors , none have ever been punished [ source : Project Vote Smart ] .
