An Antiquated, Unnecessary System

Having an Electoral College inspires little confidence as it is the voters who cast vote for the candidate and the winner takes all the votes assigned to a state. Candidates also give preference to swing states, often compromising governance

- Devender Singh Aswal

THE question that agitates people across the world is why the founding fathers of the US enshrined a complex, multi-layered electoral system in the Constitution. The US cast votes for election to the 538-member electoral college (EC) on November 3, 2020, to elect the next president and vice-president on December 14, 2020. The winner must get a minimum of 270 votes. In case no one receives the minimum prescribed votes, the House of Representatives elects the president, and the Senate elects the vice-president.

The EC and its procedure is established by Article II of the US Constitution and the 12th and the 23rd Constitution Amendments. Since 1845, on the first Tuesday after November 1, the voters elect the members of the EC. The media declared Joe Biden as the president-elect as he secured 290 votes in the EC, though the declaration of a formal victory will have to wait as the 538 members of the EC will cast their votes on December 14, 2020, in their respective state capitals. The votes will be counted and certified by the Congress in a joint sitting to be held on January 6, 2020, presided over by the vice-president. The president-elect will then be sworn in on January 20, 2020.