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The United States Electoral College is the institution that elects the President and Vice President of the United States every four years. Citizens of the United States do not directly elect the president or the vice president; instead, these voters directly elect designated intermediaries called "electors," who almost always have pledged to vote for particular presidential and vice presidential candidates (though unpledged electors are possible) and who are themselves selected according to the particular laws of each state. Electors are apportioned to each of the 50 states as well as to the District of Columbia (also known as Washington, D.C.). The number of electors in each state is equal to the number of members of Congress to which the state is entitled,〔Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution〕 while the Twenty-third Amendment grants the District of Columbia the same number of electors as the least populous state, currently three. Therefore, in total, there are currently 538 electors, corresponding to the 435 members of the House of Representatives and 100 senators, plus the three additional electors from the District of Columbia. Except for the electors in Maine and Nebraska, electors are elected on a "winner-take-all" basis. That is, all electors pledged to the presidential candidate who wins the most votes in a state become electors for that state. Maine and Nebraska use the "congressional district method", selecting one elector within each congressional district by popular vote and selecting the remaining two electors by a statewide popular vote.〔 Although no elector is required by federal law to honor a pledge, there have only been very few occasions when an elector voted contrary to a pledge.〔(The Green Papers )〕〔Many states have laws designed to ensure that electors vote for pledged candidates, though the constitutionality of these laws has never been positively established. See (The Green Papers )〕 The Twelfth Amendment, in specifying how a president and vice president are elected, requires each elector to cast one vote for president and another vote for vice president. The candidate that receives an absolute majority of electoral votes (currently 270) for the office of president or of vice president is elected to that office. The Twelfth Amendment provides for what happens if the Electoral College fails to elect a president or vice president. If no candidate receives a majority for president, then the House of Representatives will select the president, with each state delegation (instead of each representative) having only one vote. If no candidate receives a majority for vice president, then the Senate will select the vice president, with each senator having one vote. On four occasions, most recently in 2000, the Electoral College system has resulted in the election of a candidate who did not receive the most popular votes in the election.〔(Library of Congress - Election Process )〕〔(US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives - Electoral College Fast Facts )〕 ==Background== The Constitutional Convention in 1787 used the Virginia Plan as the basis for discussions, as the Virginia delegation had proposed it first. The Virginia Plan called for the Congress to elect the president.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787: May 29 )〕 Delegates from a majority of states agreed to this mode of election.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787: June 2 )〕 However, the Committee of Eleven, formed to work out various details including the mode of election of the president, recommended instead that the election be by a group of people apportioned among the states in the same numbers as their representatives in Congress (the formula for which had been resolved in lengthy debates resulting in the Connecticut Compromise and Three-fifths compromise), but chosen by each state "in such manner as its Legislature may direct." Committee member Gouverneur Morris explained the reasons for the change; among others, there were fears of "intrigue" if the president were chosen by a small group of men who met together regularly, as well as concerns for the independence of the president if he was elected by the Congress.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787: September 4 )〕 Some delegates, including James Wilson and James Madison, preferred popular election of the executive. Madison acknowledged that while a popular vote would be ideal, it would be difficult to get consensus on the proposal given the prevalence of slavery in the South: The Convention approved the Committee's Electoral College proposal, with minor modifications, on September 6, 1787.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787: September 6 )〕 Delegates from the small states generally favored the Electoral College out of concern that the large states would otherwise control presidential elections.〔(Concerns With The Electoral College )〕 In ''The Federalist'' Papers, James Madison explained his views on the selection of the president and the Constitution. In Federalist No. 39, Madison argued that the Constitution was designed to be a mixture of state-based and population-based government. Congress would have two houses: the state-based Senate and the population-based House of Representatives. Meanwhile, the president would be elected by a mixture of the two modes.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Federalist 39 )〕 Additionally, in the Federalist No. 10, James Madison argued against "an interested and overbearing majority" and the "mischiefs of faction" in an electoral system. He defined a faction as "a number of citizens whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community." Republican government (i.e., federalism, as opposed to direct democracy), with its varied distribution of voter rights and powers, would countervail against factions. Madison further postulated in the Federalist No. 10 that the greater the population and expanse of the Republic, the more difficulty factions would face in organizing due to such issues as sectionalism.〔''The Federalist Papers: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay'' The New American Library, 1961〕 Although the United States Constitution refers to "Electors" and "electors", neither the phrase "Electoral College" nor any other name is used to describe the electors collectively. It was not until the early 19th century that the name "Electoral College" came into general usage as the collective designation for the electors selected to cast votes for president and vice president. It was first written into federal law in 1845 and today the term appears in , in the section heading and in the text as "college of electors."〔(archives.gov )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Electoral College (United States)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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