Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Is the following statement true: If no presidential candidate secures the 270 electoral votes, do the large states have an advantage when the...

At first glance, this would seem like a true question.  Since the larger states have more representation in the House of Representatives, it would seem they have an advantage.  California, for instance, has 53 representatives and Texas has 36.  Compare this with the smaller states of Vermont, Montana, and the Dakotas that have one member each and you can see why the bigger states would seem to have a larger voice in this process.  The reason why this question is false, however, is established in the 12th Amendment:



and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote;



As you can see by the wording of this, while representatives are responsible for choosing the president, they do so with only one vote per state.  For this reason, the larger states do not have an advantage in this process.

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