Electoral College Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Electoral College - Essay Example Pelayo was elected by his Visigothic nobles before becoming king of Asturias and Pepin the Sort was also elected by his Frankish nobles so as to become the first Carolingian king (Wedgewood 29-36). In the Holy Roman Empire, the King of the Romans was selected by the college of prince electors from the late Middle Ages until 1792 when the last election took place (Wedgewood 29-36). The Church in the West left electoral power exclusively to the College of Canons of the Cathedral Church. In the case of the Pope, selection is left to the exclusive authority of the College of Cardinals since 1059. Currently, the United States of America is the best illustration of a society that uses the Electoral College System to indirectly elect the president and the vice president (Sabato 20-35). Framers of the Unites States’ Constitution devised the Electoral College as procedure to indirectly elect the president by the people. The Constitutional Convention came up with so various methods of selecting the president which included selection of the president by the Congress; selection of the president by the State Legislature; selection of the president through direct popular vote (Kolodny 45-65). These procedures were rejected for various reasons such as threats of power bargaining and corruption (Longley and Pierce 12-17). Finally, the convention settled for the indirect method of election of the president through the Electoral College and this procedure was stipulated in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States (Kolodny 45-65). The article on the Electoral College has undergone several amendments in 1880, 1804 (12th Amendment) and in 1876. The last amendment to the Electoral College was made through the 23rd Amendment which gave the District of Columbia the right to vote for three electors just as the residents of other states