The Process of Electing Electors

 In the beginning the Presidential Electors were either chosen by the state's legislators or were elected by the people to represent congressional districts. Every district had an elector and every district had a voice and a vote. The electors represented themselves and were to decide for themselves which of the candidates would best preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.

The men who were chosen were wise men who were well known in the communities and could be trusted to choose the candidate they personally believed was most likely to preserve, protect and defend the rights of the people in his district.

After the election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 electors began to be chosen by the political parties on a state wide basis. The electors now represented  political parties and the electors were required to vote for candidate from the party that received the most popular votes.

The parties convinced the states to employ a "Winner Take All" method of allocating electoral votes which gave all of the state's electoral votes to the candidate of the party that won the most popular votes. The electors could no longer judge for themselves who was the best candidate, they were required to cast the  ballot for the candidate that received the most popular votes.

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