Sarah James Election 101 Feature

October 15, 2024

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Gonzaga University News Service

Learn more about elections in our feature: Election 101. Political science professor Sarah James will explain the intricacies of the Electoral College, how this system impacts elections, and how this system might (or might not) change in the future.

Answers have been edited for length and clarity:

How the system works

JAMES: Hello everyone, this is Election 101. I’m Dr. Sarah James from the Department of Political Science and today we’re going to talk about the Electoral College, the unique system that the United States uses to select our presidents. It’s a system we’ve had since the 1780s where people don’t vote for president directly, but instead vote for a group of people called electors, who then go to Washington DC and cast their vote for president . In 48 of the 50 states, the presidential candidate who receives the most votes does not even have to have 50%, but could actually have the most votes. That candidate’s political party will be allowed to send its voters to a meeting in Washington DC in early January to officially cast their vote for president. And then a president gets votes.

Criticism and controversy

JAMES: One criticism of the Electoral College is that it has led to many elections in which the popular vote and the Electoral College result were not the same. And again, there is much debate in political science and among historians about whether or not this was intended by the Founding Fathers. But it’s a system we have for now. It’s a system that people have tried to change many times. I expect it will probably be here for quite a while.