BYU NewsNet - Electoral College Impacts Presidential Race

Despite the fevered pitch of the upcoming presidential election, and increased emphasis on voting, students may be surprised to realize in a way, their vote doesn't really 'count.'

American citizens do not vote directly for president; the votes elect slates of electors in each state based on population size, collectively making the US Electoral College. After popular votes are cast in each state, electoral votes are placed, which then elect the president.

According to MSNBC, each state gets a number of electors equal to its membership in the House and Senate (The District of Columbia gets three).

Utah, for instance, gets 5 electors. If Republican candidate John McCain wins the popular vote in Utah on Nov. 4, the slate of 5 Utah electors is added to McCain's overall electoral vote count.

According to the National Archives and Records Administration, Electors are often selected to recognize their service and dedication to their political party. They may be State-elected officials, party leaders, or persons who have a personal or political affiliation with the Presidential candidate.

Outlined in Article II of the Constitution and modified in the 12th Amendment, the Electoral College was designed to allow the public to vote for who they thought would be the best leader, but also worked to prevent larger states (such as California, which gets 55 votes, and New York, which gets 31, according to the 2000 Census) from taking complete control of the system.

The Electoral College was created by the Founding Fathers, "as a compromise between election of the president by Congress and election by popular vote," according to the National Archives and Records Administration.

Despite its ability to give states more balanced representation, the Electoral College is not without criticism.

The National Archives and Records Administration sources indicate that over the past 200 years, over 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College. There have been more proposals for Constitutional amendments on changing the Electoral College than on any other subject.

A downside of the Electoral College is, for example, if one casts a vote in Utah for the Democratic candidate and the Republican candidate wins the popular vote (which has occurred every year for the past 44 years), your vote hasn't really counted for anything. The candidate who gets the most popular votes in a state gets all of its electoral votes. All but two states (Maine and Nebraska) use the winner-take-all system.

"Whether the system works or not depends on your definition of democracy," said Kelly D. Patterson, BYU professor of political science and director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. "The Electoral College enhances group representation, but other people want to see a more direct link between the population and elected officials."

Another criticism of the Electoral College system is due to the distribution of votes, it is possible for the winner of the popular vote to not win the electoral vote, and thereby lose the election. This has happened four times in history, the most recent in 2000 when CNN reported Al Gore received more popular votes than George W. Bush, (50,996,116 vs. 50,456,169) but fewer electoral votes (266 vs. 271).