This information was compiled for the 2008 Presidential Election
and is subject to updating and/or changes for 2016.

"Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors..."
(U.S. Constitution: Article II, Section 1, clause 2)

chosen by

• Political Party
  • "Political Party", of course, refers to a political party which has either nominated candidates for President or Vice-President who have been automatically accepted- under State Election Law regarding automatic ballot access- on the General Election ballot or has successfully achieved ballot access for its candidates for President and Vice-President in the General Election through the procedures of nomination by petition supplied by State Election law. The element of the political party making the actual choice- as listed herein- usually applies only to Major Parties; state law generally allows minor parties and independent candidates for President to file their electors as part of the petitioning process.
• central committee
  • "central committee" usually means the state committee of the political party actually chooses the party's Presidential Electors for the upcoming presidential election; however, in some states, it may mean the state central committee of the political party is free to designate another method (state convention, primary election, etc.) of choice without state oversight.
• organization
  • "organization" means the political party is pretty much free to choose its method of nominating Presidential Electors (that is, it may use a state convention, a state primary election or have the state party central committee or even its chairperson[s] choose the Electors without any state input re: how the Party goes about this).
• per statute
  • "per statute" means that the Political Parties- their organization, committee makeups, etc.- are regulated by state statute, including how each Party chooses its Presidential Electors. In CALIFORNIA, of the Major Parties, the Democrats allow the party's most recent nominees for U.S. House and Senate choose the Electors (each candidate choosing one Elector) while the Republicans leave the choice of Electors to a committee made up of recent nominees for statewide office, state legislative leaders and other important party officials.
• primary election
  • "primary election" means the political party MUST use the regularly scheduled state/local primary election to choose its Presidential Electors for the upcoming presidential election.
• state convention
  • "state convention" means the Party MUST use its state convention to choose its Presidential Electors for the upcoming presidential election.

citation

• citation
  • the statutory citation refers to the specific code section in state law which determines the methods by which those who will, if elected via the General Election for president, be "appointed" Presidential Electors from a given state. The method of citation is, as close as is possible, that used in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Digest.

on General Election ballot as

• unnamed
  • "unnamed" means the names of the Electors do NOT appear on the ballot: only the names of the candidates for President and Vice-President appear.
• named
  • "named" means the names of the Electors DO appear on the ballot: usually next to either the surnames or full names of the candidates for President and Vice-President.
• slate
  • "slate" means that the Electors (whether named or unnamed) are chosen as a slate: that is, the voter cannot pick and choose between Electors from different Parties (and, by definition, pledged to different Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates)... this is probably a given for "unnamed" Electors, but not necessarily so with "named" Electors!
• at-large
  • "at-large", of course, means that the votes for Electors are counted statewide and all Presidential Electors are "appointed"- however indirectly- by the results of the popular vote for President statewide. (Where some Electors are "appointed" by the results of the popular vote for President by district- as is the case in MAINE and NEBRASKA- the type of district is so indicated).
     

Pledged by statute to support winning ticket?

• Pledged by statute to support winning ticket?
  • This is a tricky area: in many states which so require by law [marked "Yes" in the table], the statute specifically states that the Electors shall [or must] cast their ballots to the national ticket which received the most popular votes; in other states, the statute is not so specific- however, the language regarding how the vote of the voter is to be applied to the allocation of Electors implies just such a pledge. When in doubt, this column has been marked "No"- the reason being that these state laws pledging (or implying a pledge of) the Electors to vote for the winning national ticket are of dubious constitutionality (theoretically, the Electors- like U.S. Senators- though representing the State, are Federal officers: the State cannot legally "instruct" Federal officers which, nonetheless, represent it; thus, at least in theory, the Electors are 'free agents' who can cast their ballots for President and Vice President as they see fit- the only check on this being whether or not the Joint Session of Congress which counts and tabulates the Electoral Vote accepts the Elector's votes as valid. Keep in mind, however, that- even re: States where this column reads "No"- there may be political party intradiscipline that might well be resorted to in order to prevent an 'appointed' Presidential Elector from failing to vote for the winning ticket!)

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