The Advocate.The framers of the U.S. Constitution came up with the Electoral College as a compromise between those who thought Congress should pick the president and those who favored direct election by citizens.
They decided the voters in each state should select independent electors, in a number equal to the size of the state’s congressional delegation, and those electors would choose the president.
The rise of political parties quashed the idea of electoral independence, as now they’re pledged to a party, and the candidate who wins the popular vote in each state gets the electors.Today, the Electoral College is known mainly for the fact that it forces major-party presidential nominees to concentrate on campaigning in a few “swing.