settle this debate! (a dumb one)
 

Ok me and my 2 friends had this debate today. FWIW we are all in college and I'm kinda said we don't all know this.

Basically we disagreed on how exactly electoral votes work. We can agree on the following

1. People in states vote, candidate in that state wins that state
2. ????
3. ????
4. president with most electoral votes wins!!

What are steps 2 and 3 exactly? Be somewhat specific.

Re: settle this debate! (a dumb one)
 

Here you go.

Re: settle this debate! (a dumb one)
 

*

Re: settle this debate! (a dumb one)
 

a vote for a particular President is actually a vote for the state's delegates to the electoral college. different states have different rules for handling their votes. In some its winner take all, in others its proportional, i believe in some they can even vote their own way, against the popular vote

Re: settle this debate! (a dumb one)
 

I tried google but I wanted to make 100% sure that I wasn't getting confused. I know a couple of the really small states are proportional, I'm talking about the rest. My main question is who appoints the people that then vote directly for the president. I thought it was the party/candidate and my friend thought it was the people. I thought he was totally an idiot but then my other friend agreed with him.

Re: settle this debate! (a dumb one)
 

From the Wiki article :

"Presidential elector candidates are nominated by their state political parties in the summer before the Election Day. Each state provides its own means for the nomination of electors. In some states, such as Oklahoma, the Electors are nominated in primaries the same way that other candidates are nominated. Other states, such as Virginia and North Carolina, nominate electors in party conventions. In Pennsylvania, the campaign committees of the candidates name their candidates for Presidential Elector (an attempt to discourage faithless Electors). All states require the names of all Electors to be filed with the Secretary of State (or equivalent) at least a month prior to election day. However, under the 14th Amendment, persons holding a state or federal office-whether elected or appointed-may not become electors (an error made, but corrected, before both the 2000 and 2004 elections [1])."

Re: settle this debate! (a dumb one)
 

Ya i did read that articles (I didn't just come here and make a stupid post as my first resort) but I still wasn't totally clear. I am actually looking for a substantial amount of detail which is why I couldn't just googletard this.

"Each state provides its own means for the nomination of electors"

Is there some sort of standard way most states do it? Do people vote on these at any point or just the party officials?

Re: settle this debate! (a dumb one)
 

[ QUOTE ]

1. Collect underpants.
2. ???
3. Candidate with most electoral votes wins!!

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP

Re: settle this debate! (a dumb one)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Ya i did read that articles (I didn't just come here and make a stupid post as my first resort) but I still wasn't totally clear. I am actually looking for a substantial amount of detail which is why I couldn't just googletard this.

"Each state provides its own means for the nomination of electors"

Is there some sort of standard way most states do it? Do people vote on these at any point or just the party officials?

[/ QUOTE ]

The next few sentances right after the one you quoted explain the common methods used by states. Am I missing something?

Re: settle this debate! (a dumb one)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Is there some sort of standard way most states do it? Do people vote on these at any point or just the party officials?

[/ QUOTE ]

if you give some money to party you can be an elector, pretty simple really.