ran 2.6 miles
The Electoral College is a safeguard created by the framers of the U.S. Constitution, which protects what they viewed as a potential recklessness of the purely Popular Vote. Our forefathers were faced with either letting individual American voters choose the president by themselves or allowing Congress to override them if they saw fit to do so. And they chose to let Congress override the Popular Vote, as described in Article II, section 1 of the Constitution.
Electors usually cast their votes for the candidate who received the majority of votes in that particular state. Some states have laws that require electors to vote for the popular candidate and others are bound by pledges to a specific political party. As Alabama has exemplified, there have been cases where electors vote contrarily to the people’s decision, and there is no law or Constitutional provision to stop or condition it.
2,014.5 miles to go.
- Alabama was the twenty-second state to join the Union on December 14, 1819, one year after Illinois and one year before Maine.
- Population, as of 2009, is 4,708,708.
- Senators are Jeff Sessions (R) and Richard C. Shelby (R).
- Representatives are Jo Robins Bonner (R), Terry Everett (R) , Mike Rogers (R), Robert Aderholt (R), Bud Cramer (D), Spencer Bachus (R), and Artur Davis (D).
- Alabama holds nine electoral votes. Historically, the state has been a GOP stronghold since 1964, voting for democrats only twice in 1968 and 1976 (George Wallace and Jimmy Carter).
- Alabama holds a historic example of how contradictory the Electoral College can be. In 1960, six of the eleven Alabama electors cast their votes for Harry F. Byrd, regardless of the fact that John Kennedy clearly won the state’s popular vote.
The Electoral College is a safeguard created by the framers of the U.S. Constitution, which protects what they viewed as a potential recklessness of the purely Popular Vote. Our forefathers were faced with either letting individual American voters choose the president by themselves or allowing Congress to override them if they saw fit to do so. And they chose to let Congress override the Popular Vote, as described in Article II, section 1 of the Constitution.
Electors usually cast their votes for the candidate who received the majority of votes in that particular state. Some states have laws that require electors to vote for the popular candidate and others are bound by pledges to a specific political party. As Alabama has exemplified, there have been cases where electors vote contrarily to the people’s decision, and there is no law or Constitutional provision to stop or condition it.
2,014.5 miles to go.
