Quote:
Originally posted by psyko514
This sounds kinda complicated... If I understand correctly (and I probably don't), the people don't choose the President, but instead they choose the people who will choose the President?
Why isn't it as simple as the guy with the most votes wins? Why is the Electoral College system better?
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Small states like Vermont worried that more populous states like Virginia would be able to determine the president and thus they would always be ruled by a "foreign" ruler.
The electoral system is a compromise mostly between those who wanted states to determine the president and those who wanted a popular vote. As is always the case there were also many other ideas of what the new government should be, how its leader should be determined, what the role of that leader should be and even what he would be killed.
All you need to do to determine the number of electoral votes for each state is to add the number of senators and congressmen from that state.