Presidential Elections: A Primer SHARE
This primer is a step-by-step recap of the procedures associated with our remarkable 2020 election. I do not address the politics of the matter, except to comment on the politically-charged debate between advocates for our electoral college and advocates for a national popular vote.
1. What dates are critical when we elect the president?
The presidential election of 2020 was set by federal statute to occur on November 3. Although the candidates’ names are on the ballot, we actually vote for electors who in turn are pledged to vote for each candidate. Then, the electors meet and vote – in 2020, on December 14 – in each state. Those ballots go to Congress, which finalizes the outcome on January 6, 2021, after which the president is inaugurated on January 20.
Source: National Popular Vote Inc.
Virginia may be on the verge of dropping out of the Electoral College, joining a National Popular Vote Compact in an effort to ditch a presidential election system critics say is outdated and undemocratic. Once enough states have joined the compact to reach 270 electoral votes, Virginia and other states that have signed on to the agreement would award electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote rather than the candidate who prevailed at the state level. So far, 15 states and the District of Columbia have joined the compact for a total of 196 electoral votes.
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Democracy is built on majority rule and the concept that every person s vote counts.
Yet five times in history, American presidents have won office while losing the popular vote, with two of those instances coming in the past 20 years George W. Bush in 2000 by a margin of around 500,000 votes and Donald Trump in 2016 by about 3 million.
At issue is the uniquely American system of the Electoral College, which provides that a group of specially chosen representatives (538 at present) for each state choose the president, generally using a winner-takes-all model based on the popular vote.
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Oregon electors take stance against Electoral College
Three of Oregon s electors wore face masks that said Abolish the Electoral College to cast their ballots in the 2020 election. Author: Hanna Merzbach Updated: 4:59 PM PST December 15, 2020
PORTLAND, Ore On Monday, Oregon’s seven members of the Electoral College gathered in the state capitol to cast their votes for Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Biden won 56% of votes in the state, so Oregon Democrats chose their slate of electors: the chair and vice chair of the Democratic Party of Oregon, along with the chairs of each congressional district.
Yet, despite their positions, not all of the electors support the Electoral College. Three of them even wore face masks saying, “Abolish the Electoral College.”