the electoral college

     It's that time of year again, almost, and we'll soon be talking about the Electoral College and why we still have one. The Electoral College gets together every four years to elect the President of the United States. Really. The Constitution of the United States, Article II, Section 1, describes the method of electing the President and Vice President. Each state chooses "electors", who will meet in their state and vote for the President and Vice President. Each state is entitled to a number of electors equal to the number of its representatives in Congress and the Senate, so more populous states have more electors.  The votes of the electors from each state are sent to Washington, where they are opened and counted in front of the Senate and the House of Representatives, combined.  The candidate having a majority of these "electoral" votes is the next president.  If no one has a majority, ( more than half , and not just the biggest portion, usually called a plurality ) the Constitution gives the House of Representatives the authority to settle the dispute by a vote, one vote per state, instead of per representative.This has not happened in nearly 200 years, but it remains the law just the same.
     The Constitution doesn't say much, if anything, about the popular vote for the President. In the past, a different candidate has  won a majority of the popular vote and of the electoral vote. In the election of 1876, one candidate won the popular vote, and another won the electoral vote. The election was settled in favor of the winner of the electoral vote, by a deal  made in Congress. In the election of 1888, again, the candidate who won the popular vote lost the electoral vote.
    So why do we still have an Electoral College? It would take a constitutional amendment to dismantle it.