Some states have gained or lost Electoral College votes because of changes in population numbers recorded by the 2020 census. If a political party cant win a simple majority of the vote on the strength of their arguments, resorting to manipulation of electoral counts isnt going to make their vision more acceptable or workable. [31] On July 5, 2023, in the lead up to the 2024 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Pence responded to questions from an Iowa woman about his Constitutional authority saying that "The Constitution affords no authority -- to the vice president or anyone else -- to reject votes or return votes to the states. Electoral College Certificates and Votes by State Click on the name of a State to see its Certificate of Ascertainment. [69], During the debate of Arizona's votes, Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol at approximately 2:15p.m. and members of the House of Representatives and Senate were promptly evacuated from the Capitol by Capitol Police, and Congress was placed under lockdown. [53] Other Senate Republicans were noncommittal or opposed to the attempt to subvert the election results. When you talk about the Electoral College shaping the election, it shapes the election all the time, because it puts the focus on certain states and not others, said Alexander Keyssar, a professor of history and social policy at Harvard University. v. Pence, Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election Pressure on Pence, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2024 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, List of companies that halted U.S. political contributions in January 2021, Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022, Public hearings of the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, "The Electoral College: A 2020 Presidential Election Timeline", "It's official: Florida certifies its 2020 election results", "Wisconsin's divisive presidential recount begins", "Here's What Will Happen Between Election Day and Inauguration Day", "Final vote tally shows Lee County turnout increase", "Could Trump Defy Popular Vote By Halting Voter Certification? Reagan, a Republican, served as the 40th president of the United States (1981-1989) and earlier as the 33rd governor of California (1967-1975). Texas is next, with 40, followed by Florida, with 30, and New York, with 28. [42][43] As of January 2022, the Justice Department is investigating the matter. In 2016, 18 percent of voters viewed both candidates, Trump and Clinton, unfavorably. Allyson Waller is part of the 2020-2021 New York Times Fellowship class and is a general assignment reporter on the Express desk. This is made up of 435 United States Representatives, 100 United States Senators, and 3 electors from the District of Columbia. Its just like in tennis, he said. Most are, and it helps to think of voting on a state-by-state basis, Professor Amar said. Third-party candidates tend to get the most traction when theres greater-than-usual dissatisfaction with the major party presidential candidates like in 2016, when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump had favorability ratings of just 43 percent and 38 percent, respectively. [44] The 59 people who presented themselves as fake electors could face federal and state charges. If there are no objections or all objections are overruled, the presiding officer simply includes a state's votes, as declared in the certificate of vote, in the official tally. Of the current 538electors, an absolute majority of 270 or more electoral votes is required to elect the president and vice president. [12] The certificates must bear the state seal and the governor's signature. The Electoral College was born at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The process of choosing electors can be an insiders game, said Kimberly Wehle, a professor at the University of Baltimore and the author of What You Need to Know About Voting and Why. They are often state legislators, party leaders or donors, she said. 21) are in the bottom half: Wisconsin (No. In the case of Georgia, Senator Kelly Loeffler (RGA) had withdrawn her objection after the unrest. Following U.S. election results on a TV in a restaurant in Shanghai on Nov. 4. does not determine the winner of the presidency, Joseph R. Biden Jr. had earned 306 electoral votes, Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia, it is not a college in the modern educational sense, Kimberly Wehle, a professor at the University of Baltimore, on Nov. 3 backed membership in the compact. [41], In Pennsylvania and Nevada, the documents explicitly admitted that these "electors in waiting" were not the state's official electors and were only being proposed as alternate electors pending the outcome of Trump's election lawsuits. People call them faithless electors. In 2016, seven electors 5 Democrats and 2 Republicans broke their promise to vote for their partys nominee, the most ever in history. They will do as promised if the candidates do a very good job vetting them and picking people who are rock solid, said Akhil Reed Amar, a professor of law and political science at Yale University. That important decision ultimately falls to the Electoral College, which is back in the news following revelations about former President Donald J. Trumps scheme to manipulate the system by creating false slates of electors in an effort to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. Some states replace electors and cancel their votes if they break their pledge. Other than Perots 1992 and 1996 performances, only one other third-party candidate has won more than 3 percent of the national popular vote: Libertarian Gary Johnson in 2016. In our current system their voice cannot be heard. A special commission named by the House chose Hayes over Samuel J. Tilden, after 20 electoral votes in Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina were disputed. It was even a talking point among 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. Representatives, The reason for the total vote count being 99 was a vacancy in one of the Georgia senate seats. In 2020, only 3 percent of voters said they had an unfavorable opinion of both Biden and Trump, limiting the appetite for other candidates. [20][21], On December 28, 2020, Republican U.S. Representative Louis Gohmert of Texas and the slate of Republican presidential electors for Arizona filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas against Vice President Mike Pence, seeking to force him to decide the election outcome. . (Voters in one of those states, Colorado, on Nov. 3 backed membership in the compact after opponents of the measure collected enough signatures to put the law on the ballot as a referendum.) Republican Rep. John Anderson ran as an independent in 1980, attracting media attention and a small, eager following but garnering no electoral votes and just 6.6% of the popular vote. A total of 538 electoral votes are in play across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. 1 In elections from 1789 to 1804, each elector voted for two individuals without indicating which was to be president and which was to be vice president. "[49] After Senator John Thune, the second highest-ranking Senate Republican, said that the challenge to the election results would fail "like a shot dog" in the Senate, Trump attacked him on Twitter. The number of electors currently 538 equals the number of senators and House members, plus three . Here's a look at the difference between the 2012 . Senator, Republican reactions to Donald Trump's claims of election fraud, List of companies that halted political contributions, Suspensions of other social media accounts, efforts of Trump and his allies to overturn the election results, Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, Post-election lawsuits related to the 2020 United States presidential election Gohmert et al. A long summer break isnt one of them. [49] In December Brooks organized three White House meetings between Trump, Republican lawmakers, and others, including Vice President Pence and members of Trump's legal team. The important number is 270. The Electoral College is a group of people that elects the president and the vice president of the United States. [70] The District of Columbia National Guard, as well as the National Guards and state police of the neighboring states of Virginia and Maryland, were activated within the hour. Missouri has 10 electoral votes. [72] Congress then reconvened at 8:00p.m. and politicians from both parties condemned both Trump and the rioters' failed insurrection.[73]. To the editor: Keeping the electoral college entrenches calcified party lines. Letters to the Editor: How the electoral college has thwarted democracy. Staff from the Office of the Federal Register ensure that each certificate contains all legally required information. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Congress broke the tie, and Jefferson became president and Burr became vice president. This comes just as the bipartisan group No Labels is set to host Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and former Republican Utah Republican Gov. Yes, and that is what happened in 2016: Although Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote by almost three million votes, Donald Trump garnered almost 57 percent of the electoral votes, enough to win the presidency. And in 1888, Benjamin Harrison defeated the incumbent president, Grover Cleveland, in the Electoral College, despite losing the popular vote. In the other five states, however, the documents fraudulently identified the Trump allies as the official state electors. Democratic . Cleveland ran again four years later and won back the White House. A simple majority of electoral votes are needed to win: 270. There are arguments that the states with smaller populations are overrepresented in the Electoral College, because every state gets at least 3 electors regardless of population. Despite its name, the Electoral College is not a college in the modern educational sense, but refers to a collegium or group of colleagues. Its complicated, Letters to the Editor: Theres a lot wrong with education. This strategy, including the drafting of fake documents for the supposedly competing electors, was coordinated by Rudy Giuliani in December 2020. But a lot has happened since November 2020: The Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. The results of Arizona were then objected to by Paul Gosar (AZ-4) and Ted Cruz (TX). Currently, all states select electors through a popular vote.. "[32][33][34][35][36], Another proposed method was to reject results in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Mexico by alleging that these states had sent competing sets of electors. [18] If the objection is approved by both Houses, the state's votes are not included in the count. There are 538 electors, one for each U.S. senator and U.S. representative, plus three for Washington, D.C., which gets three electoral votes in the presidential . [64][19] George Papadopoulos and Roger Stone, ardent allies of Trump, planned to headline some of the events. For that reason alone, many people dont vote. To the editor: Another major factor that adds to the anti-democratic problems with the electoral college is the winner-take-all rule, which is used by all states except Nebraska and Maine.