Who has authority over elections?
Article I, Section 4, Clause 1: The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
What was the original reason for the Electoral College?
The Founding Fathers established the Electoral College in the Constitution, in part, as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens. However, the term “electoral college” does not appear in the Constitution.
What does Article 4 Section 1 of the Constitution mean?
Article IV, Section 1 ensures that states respect and honor the state laws and court orders of other states, even when their own laws are different. Article IV, Section 1 also gives Congress the power to determine how states recognize records and laws from other states and how they enforce each others’ court orders.
What does it mean to have a right to vote?
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). The combination of active and passive suffrage is sometimes called full suffrage. Suffrage is often conceived in terms of elections for representatives.
Is voting guaranteed by the Constitution?
Several constitutional amendments (the Fifteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-sixth specifically) require that voting rights of U.S. citizens cannot be abridged on account of race, color, previous condition of servitude, sex, or age (18 and older); the constitution as originally written did not establish any such rights …
Who has constitutional authority over elections in the United States?
The United States Constitution gives each house of Congress the power to be the judge of the “elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members” (Article I, section 5).
Who picks the Electoral College?
Who selects the electors? Choosing each State’s electors is a two-part process. First, the political parties in each State choose slates of potential electors sometime before the general election. Second, during the general election, the voters in each State select their State’s electors by casting their ballots.
Who determines how states vote?
Electoral votes are allocated among the States based on the Census. Every State is allocated a number of votes equal to the number of senators and representatives in its U.S. Congressional delegation—two votes for its senators in the U.S. Senate plus a number of votes equal to the number of its Congressional districts.
What does the US Constitution say about voting rights?
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.
What is the Electoral College simplified?
The United States Electoral College is a name used to describe the official 538 Presidential electors who come together every four years during the presidential election to give their official votes for President and Vice President of the United States. No state can have fewer than three electors.