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Although most Americans think of the President as a directly-elected figure, in fact the competition for votes occurs State-by-State, each State having an influence in the outcome in a way that is related to, but not perfectly in proportion to, the size of its population. As a result, a President can be selected by the process who has, in fact, fewer votes than his or her opponent.
The complicated system for selecting the President has its origins in the Constitutional Convention, and although the system has been modified since by both constitutional amendment and practice, the core of the system proposed by the Convention is still in place.
The Convention considered a full range of options --- everything from a nationally-organized election through to a system with an element of chance. Their thinking evolved as their view on other matters, such as the role of the Executive and the relationship of the National Government to the States also shifted.
Other issues---would the Executive consist of one man, two men, or more? How would he or they be advised? What relationship would they have to Congress, the Judiciary and the State governments? What would the nature of the Judiciary and Executive be?---all affected thinking on how the President (and, indeed, Vice-President) would be chosen; these issues will be dealt with in full in their own right by other commentaries.
The moments in the Convention highlighted by this collection simply suggest a set of starting points for readers exploring how the Convention's thinking on the selection of the President evolved and settled.
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The Creation of the Electoral College
A collection highlighting important moments in the debate over how a President should be chosen for the United States.
Cite as: N. P. Cole, Grace Mallon and Kat Howarth, The Creation of the Electoral College, Quill Project at Pembroke College (Oxford, accessed 2024)