The Electoral College is an attempt to make the election of the United States President fair to all fifty states, regardless of the population of the state. The concept of the Electoral College actually goes back to Roman times. In 1788, Alexander Hamilton wrote about the idea of electors in the Federalist Papers. The words “electoral college” are not in the Constitution. Article 11 and the 12th Amendment of the Constitution refer to electors. It was not until 1804, the words “electoral college” are used after the 12th Amendment was passed.
The Electoral College gives each state a number of votes based on their two senators from each state plus the number of people from their state in the House of Representatives. Montana has three electoral votes, as there are two senators, plus one representative. The electors officially are to vote for the presidency based on how their state votes.
The Electoral College has a total of 538 votes from all fifty states plus the District of Columbia. The person to be named president must attain a minimum of 270 votes. The number of electoral votes per state can change every ten years when the census is taken. So, states gaining population may increase their number of representatives or if the population has decreased they will lose a representative.
