From: Ryan Gill (rmgill@mindspring.com)
Date: Thu Jul 08 2004 - 14:01:55 PDT
At 4:38 PM -0400 7/8/04, J. Forster wrote:
>That's odd. I thought that there was going to be an election in about 4 months
>to CHOOSE the electors and thence the next president. I didn't know that the
>next president has been chosen w/o bothering with the formality of
>an election.
Its been in the constitution since it's ratification as I understand
it. The levels of government are stratified so as to slow the rapid
change of government. This is in the name of stability. That's why
Senators aren't all elected at the same time and the different terms
over lap. And also why Congressional Senators have 6 year terms to 4
year presidential and 2 year House terms respectively.
The people vote for their governor, state representatives and state
senators as well as their congressional Representatives. Used to be
state legislature's chose the Congressional Senators, that was
changed by the 17th Amendment in 1913.
Article II, Section 1, Clause 2: Each State shall appoint, in such
Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors,
equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which
the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or
Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under
the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
Clause 3: (changed by 12th amendment) The Electors shall meet in
their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom
one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with
themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for,
and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and
certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the
United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President
of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of
Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then
be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be
the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of
Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such
Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of
Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for
President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five
highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the
President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by
States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum
for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds
of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to
a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the
Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be
the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have
equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice
President.
See
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/article02/02.html#1
for a detailed set of annotations on the Constitution.
(Note the old spelling of 'choose')
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