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During the Year 2012 |
'Each political Party or Independent presidential candidate nominates Electors in each State or equivalent' |
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Appointment of Electors: Well before the General Election in
Presidential Election years, Elector-candidates are nominated (for
these do not become actual "Electors" unless and until
the presidential/vice-presidential ticket to whom they are
"pledged" actually wins the Popular Vote in their
jurisdiction through the results of voting in that General
Election) by either Political Parties or by the listing of slates
of such potential Electors for an Independent (or "Third
Party") candidate on a petition for ballot access in a State
(or the District of Columbia). It is commonest practice for such
Elector-candidates (who, at least in the case of the Major
Parties, almost always are Party insiders for whom being so
nominated is an honor bestowed because of their loyal service to
the Party) to be nominated for the position of Presidential
Elector at the same time as, or at least in coordination with, the
State (or D.C.)'s final determination of those who are to be
at-large delegates to the Party's National Convention being held
in the Summer of the Presidential Election year (though this is
not always the case): thus, most such Elector-candidates are
actually chosen even before the Parties have formally nominated
their presidential/vice-presidential ticket contesting the General
Election at said National Convention. Elector-candidates,
however, can only be constitutionally "appointed" (that
is, actually become) Electors as a result of the voting in that
General Election.
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Tuesday 6 November 2012 |
''The voters go to the polls and Electors are "appointed" as a result of the Popular Vote for President in each State or equivalent' |
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General Election:
The voters in each State (& D.C.) "appoint" (based
on their respective choices from among the
presidential/vice-presidential tickets on the ballot in their
State) slates of Electors to serve in the so-called
"Electoral College" ('so-called' because the 538
Electors never ever meet all together in one place as the term
"Electoral College" might imply) based on the law in
each State (& D.C.). 48 States and the District of Columbia
"appoint" their Electors on a winner-take-all basis
(that is, the presidential/vice-presidential ticket with the
plurality of the Statewide vote [= most votes from the State] is
intended to get all that jurisdiction's Electors). In each of
the two remaining States, Maine and Nebraska, the
presidential/vice-presidential ticket that receives the plurality
of the vote in each Congressional District is intended to get the
vote of the 1 "district" Elector from that CD, while
the presidential/vice-presidential ticket receiving the most
votes Statewide is intended to get the votes of 2
"at-large" Electors from the State.
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(Apparent electoral vote -- 270 needed to be elected.) |
Obama: 332 |
Romney: 206 |
Other: 0 |
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Monday 17 December 2012 |
''The Electors meet in each State [and the District of Columbia] and formally cast their Electoral Votes' |
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Place and Time of Meeting of Electors:
The Electors meet within their respective States or D.C. (again,
there is no all-up meeting of the entire "Electoral
College"-- each such Elector meeting is, in effect, one of
51 separate meetings of 51 different "Electoral
College"s [one for each of the 50 States plus D.C.]), with
each Elector in attendance casting 1 "Electoral Vote"
for, separately, President and Vice President of the United
States. No provision of the U.S. Constitution or Federal law
requires Electors to vote in accordance with the Popular Vote in
their respective jurisdictions from which they have been
"appointed" in the General Election; however, State law
or State Party rules (where these are authorized by State law to
do so) might (or, for that matter, might not!) require that
State's Electors to cast their Electoral Votes for the
presidential/vice-presidential candidate to which they have been
"pledged" via the results of the Popular Vote in that
State cast during the General Election. The Electors record
their votes on six Certificates of Vote and six Certificates of
Ascertainment (three Certificates of each type for each of the
two high Offices for whom the Electors are voting) and then sign,
seal, and certify each set. One set for each high Office is sent
to the President of the Senate (currently Vice President Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr.), while two sets for each high Office
are sent to the Archivist. The Federal Register preserves one
archival set for each high Office and holds the other set aside,
subject to the possible call of the President of the Senate
(again, in the case of the 2012 Election, Vice President Biden)
to replace potentially missing or incomplete Electoral Vote
certifications among other sets of Certificates.
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Tally of electors from Certificates of Ascertainment |
Obama: 0 |
Romney: 0 |
Other: 0 |
0 of 51 Jurisdictions reporting |
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Tally of electors from Certificates of Vote |
Obama: 0 |
Romney: 0 |
Other: 0 |
0 of 51 Jurisdictions reporting |
THE "FAITHLESS ELECTORS" - Presidential Electors who have defected in the past |
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Friday 4 January 2013 |
'The Electoral Votes are counted and tabulated before a Joint Session of Congress, after which it is officially declared who has been elected President and Vice President' |
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The so-called "Tabulation Joint Session of Congress":
Congress meets in Joint Session (that is, Senate and House meeting
together as a single body in the House of Representatives chamber
in the U.S. Capitol) to formally count and tabulate the Electoral
Votes with the President of the Senate (once more, re: the 2012 Election, Vice President Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr.) as
the presiding officer of this so-called "Tabulation Joint
Session". If at least one Senator and at least one House
member jointly submit an objection to the counting of the
Electoral Vote of any State (or D.C.), each House is required to
immediately retire to its respective chamber to consider such an
objection separately. If a State submits conflicting sets of
Electoral Votes to Congress, the same procedure is utilized (the
two houses immediately adjourn to their respective chambers to
deal with the issue). If both houses, considering such an issue
separately, happen to concur in the result (that is, they both
agree as to whether or not a State's Electoral Vote should be
counted and tabulated or they agree as to which set of conflicting
Electoral Votes to count and tabulate), they return to Joint
Session, count and tabulate the Electoral Votes they have thereby
accepted and then continue with and complete the counting and
tabulation of any remaining Electoral Votes (unless, of course,
there should be another such objection raised re: another State);
if, on the other hand, the two houses do not concur in the result,
the votes of those Electors certified by the Governor of the State
(or Mayor of Washington, D.C.) in question must be counted and
tabulated as the Electoral Vote from that State (or D.C.), without
exception, once the Joint Session is resumed. A candidate for
President or Vice President must achieve a majority of the
Electoral Vote (270 out of the total 538) in order to be declared
elected by the President of the Senate (Vice-President Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr.
in this case) at the conclusion of the Tabulation Joint Session.
In the absence of such a majority, the House (voting by State and
not as individuals [a majority of States (26 of 51) being
required]) selects the President, while the Senate (voting as
individuals and not by State [a majority of Senators (51 of 100)
being required]) selects the Vice President.
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Final Electoral Vote for President (270 needed to be elected) |
Obama: 0 |
Romney: 0 |
Other: 0 |
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Final Electoral Vote for Vice President (270 needed to be elected) |
Biden: 0 |
Ryan: 0 |
Other: 0 |
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