le and congress could elect the president, or at least that was what was intended. The structure of the Electoral College was similar to that of the Centurial Assembly system of the Roman Republic. “Under that system, the adult male citizens of Rome were divided, according to their wealth, into groups of 100 (called Centuries). Each group of 100 was entitled to cast only one vote either in favor of against proposals submitted to them by the Roman Senate.” - as stated by William C. Kimberling, Deputy Director FEC Office of Election Administration. The Founding Fathers obviously knew if the Centurial Assembly worked for the Roman Republic because they were well schooled in ancient history, but were they sure if this ancient system of elections worked for their present-forever changing day? In order to answer that question they had to put it to the test. The Electoral College is made up of 538 members. Each member represents a state. The electors are equal to the number of representatives and senators a state has. For example if a state has 20 representatives and senators (always 2) than it has 22 electors. But in order to maintain balance between the legislative and executive branches no member of Congress and employees of the Federal Government can become electors. On the Tuesday following the first Monday of November the people in each state cast their votes or in other words cast their ballots for the party slate of Electors representing their choice for president. The party slate with the most votes wins that state’s Electors, meaning that the presidential ticket with the majority votes in a state wins all the Electors of that state. On the Monday following the second Wednesday of December the Electors meet in their state capitals and cast their votes, one for president and one for vice president. The ...
