AP US Government : Federal Election Proceedings
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Example Question #21 : Federal Election Proceedings
Every four years the American people vote for a President and Vice President but the actual election of the Executive is by the vote of the Electoral College. What is the Electoral College?
A committee composed of the governors of each state that counts the votes in their state then submits the votes to the President of the Senate
A group of college deans selected to oversee the election to avoid voter fraud
A committee of the House of Representatives that validates the election
An oversight board appointed by Congress to verify the election
A process of selecting the President and Vice President based on the electoral votes of the people of each state
A process of selecting the President and Vice President based on the electoral votes of the people of each state
It is a commonly held belief that the American people elect the President and Vice President directly. In reality, it is the Electoral College that has the final vote and elects the Executive. In the early days of our government, it was believed that most of the voters were not educated sufficiently to vote for a good candidate for President and would vote for the individual whose promises were pleasing to them. Thus, the Electoral College was created. The people would vote, as we do today, then their votes would be taken by messenger to the Electoral College where individuals selected for their knowledge and impartiality would count the votes. Then, as today, each state had a selected number of representatives in the Electoral College. In the early days, these representatives would vote for the candidate that they felt was best suited to be President and Vice President regardless of the people’s vote. Today, representatives in the College are selected by the political parties and when we cast our votes, we are voting for them. They in turn will cast their votes according to the laws of their state and the vote of the people.
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