Presidential Electors and the Electoral College: An Examination ...

financial contributions or work at the grassroots level. Although scant evidence exists on the topic, most assume that presidential electors are both loyal and active partisans. Much of the research presented here investigates the extent to which these assumptions are accurate. Little is known about electors themselves, but scholars have learned a great deal about active partisans. Chief among these findings is that active partisans are highly educated, have greater wealth, and are far more ideological than are the vast majority of American citizens (Green, Jackson, and Clayton 1999). These factors certainly merit consideration in this study.

Following the presidency of George Washington, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans each fielded candidates for president. John Adams narrowly won in 1796, and his political nemesis Thomas Jefferson was elected vice president, bringing to light an unforeseen problem with the selection process. It quickly became apparent that these top two candidates would likely be rivals as president and vice president, thereby impeding the president’s ability to act. Thus, despite the founders’ stated distaste for political parties, parties quickly became enmeshed in the presidential selection process.

The election of 1800 revealed another significant flaw in the nascent presidential selection process. The newly established practice of employing party tickets resulted in an election process whereby electors voted for two candidates on the same ticket, producing a tie in the Electoral College between Jefferson and Burr (the Democratic-Republican ticket). The resulting constitutional crisis found its way into the House contingency selection process. Jefferson ultimately became president (with help from an unlikely source, Alexander Hamilton), and Burr settled for the vice presidency. However, in just a few short years, the Electoral College procedure had proved to be in serious need of repair. The Twelfth Amendment sought to address this problem by requiring electors to cast two separate ballots (one for president and one for vice president). Doing so would simultaneously limit the possibility of political rivals’ assuming the offices of president and vice president and decrease the probability of a tie in the Electoral College because of party tickets.