Editing United States Electoral College (section)

=== Evolution to the general ticket ===
[[Article Two of the United States Constitution#Clause 2: Method of choosing electors|Article II, Section 1, Clause 2]] of the Constitution states:
{{blockquote|Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.}}

According to Hamilton, Madison and others, the original intent was that this would take place district by district.<ref name="auto11">{{Cite web|url=http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0289|title=Founders Online: Draft of a Resolution for the Legislature of New York for the ...|website=founders.archives.gov}}</ref><ref name="auto10">{{Cite web |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-02-02-0023 |title=James Madison to George Hay, 23 August 1823 |date=May 25, 2017 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525182347/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-02-02-0023 |archive-date=25 May 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r75XAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA74|title=Presidential Lottery: The Reckless Gamble in Our Electoral System|first=James A.|last=Michener|date=April 15, 2014|publisher=Random House Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-8041-5160-3 |via=Google Books}}</ref> The district plan was last carried out in [[1892 United States presidential election in Michigan|Michigan in 1892]].<ref name="auto3">{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PiWltoZmSlYC&pg=RA5-PA402|title=Hearings|first=United States Congress|last=Senate|date=November 3, 1961|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|via=Google Books}}</ref> For example, in [[Massachusetts]] in 1820, the rule stated "the people shall vote by ballot, on which shall be designated who is voted for as an Elector for the district."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z0ouAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA245|title=Resolves of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: Passed at Their Session, which Commenced on Wednesday, the Thirty First of May, and Ended on the Seventeenth of June, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty. Published Agreeably to Resolve of 16th January, 1812. Boston, Russell & Gardner, for B. Russell, 1820; [repr|date=January 1, 1820|publisher=Boston Book Company|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NfhcDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA111|title=A Perspective on How Our Government Was Built And Some Needed Changes|first=Darrel A.|last=Nash|date=May 1, 2018|publisher=Dorrance Publishing|isbn=978-1-4809-7915-4 |via=Google Books}}</ref> In other words, the name of a candidate for president was ''not'' on the ballot. Instead, citizens voted for their local elector.

Some state leaders began to adopt the strategy that the favorite partisan presidential candidate among the people in their state would have a much better chance if all of the electors selected by their state were sure to vote the same way—a "general ticket" of electors pledged to a party candidate.<ref name="fairvote.org">{{Cite web |date=2012-08-21 |title=How the Electoral College Became Winner-Take-All |url=https://fairvote.org/how-the-electoral-college-became-winner-take-all/ |access-date=2024-02-13 |website=FairVote |language=en}}</ref> Once one state took that strategy, the others felt compelled to follow suit in order to compete for the strongest influence on the election.<ref name="fairvote.org"/>

When [[James Madison]] and [[Alexander Hamilton]], two of the most important architects of the Electoral College, saw this strategy being taken by some states, they protested strongly.<ref name="auto11"/><ref name="auto10"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.charlatanmagazine.com/Politico/electoralcollege/index.html|title=Electoral College|website=The Charlatan &#124; The Exposé of Politics & Style}}</ref> Madison said that when the Constitution was written, all of its authors assumed individual electors would be elected in their districts, and it was inconceivable that a "general ticket" of electors dictated by a state would supplant the concept. Madison wrote to [[George Hay (Virginia judge)|George Hay]]: {{blockquote|The district mode was mostly, if not exclusively in view when the Constitution was framed and adopted; & was exchanged for the general ticket [many years later].<ref name="Madison to Hay, 1823">{{cite web|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-02-02-0023|title=Founders Online: James Madison to George Hay, 23 August 1823|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525182347/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-02-02-0023|archive-date=May 25, 2017|df=mdy-all}}</ref>}}

Each state government was free to have its own plan for selecting its electors, and the Constitution does not explicitly require states to popularly elect their electors. However, [[Federalist No. 68]], insofar as it reflects the intent of the founders, states that Electors will be "selected by their fellow-citizens from the general mass," and with regard to choosing Electors, "they [the framers] have referred it in the first instance to an immediate act of the people of America." Several methods for selecting electors are described [[#Alternative methods of choosing electors|below]].

Madison and Hamilton were so upset by the trend to "general tickets" that they advocated a constitutional amendment to prevent anything other than the district plan. Hamilton drafted an amendment to the Constitution mandating the district plan for selecting electors.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0289|title=Founders Online: Draft of a Resolution for the Legislature of New York for the{{nbsp}}...|website=founders.archives.gov}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=February 2024}} Hamilton's [[Burr–Hamilton duel|untimely death]] in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804 prevented him from advancing his proposed reforms any further. "[T]he election of Presidential Electors by districts, is an amendment very proper to be brought forward," Madison told George Hay in 1823.<ref name="Madison to Hay, 1823"/>{{Primary source inline|date=February 2024}}

Madison also drafted a constitutional amendment that would ensure the original "district" plan of the framers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/04-03-02-0109|title=Founders Online: From James Madison to George Hay, 23 August 1823|website=founders.archives.gov}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=February 2024}} Jefferson agreed with Hamilton and Madison saying, "all agree that an election by districts would be the best."<ref name="auto3"/>{{Primary source inline|date=February 2024}} Jefferson explained to Madison's correspondent why he was doubtful of the amendment being ratified: "the states are now so numerous that I despair of ever seeing another amendment of the constitution."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-3707|title=Founders Online: From Thomas Jefferson to George Hay, 17 August 1823|website=founders.archives.gov}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=February 2024}}