HOW MANY COUNTIES/HOW MANY ELECTORS/HOW MANY POLLING PLACES?

HOW MANY COUNTIES/HOW MANY ELECTORS/HOW MANY POLLING PLACES?

TOP FIVE THREATS TO ELECTION INTEGRITY

(https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/list-top-threats-election-integrity-ahead-presidential-election)

Election bellwether counties in the United States are counties that vote in alignment with the country as a whole in United States presidential elections, so that the county votes for the candidate who ultimately wins the election. The strongest bellwether counties are those that back the winning candidate in all elections. There are a total of

3,142 counties or county equivalents in the United States.

(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_election_bellwether_counties_in_the_United_States)

ELECTORAL COLLEGE

In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years during the presidential election for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president. The process is described in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. The number of electoral votes a state has equals its number of Senators (2) plus its number of Representatives in the House of Representatives, the latter being dependent on the Census's reported population. Each state appoints electors using legal procedures determined by its legislature, equal in number to its congressional delegation (representatives and 2 senators) totaling 535 electors in the 50 states.

The Twenty-third Amendment from 1961 granted the federal District of Columbia three electors, bringing the total number of electors to 538. Federal office holders, including senators and representatives, cannot be electors. Of the current 538 electors, a simple majority of 270 or more electoral votes is required to elect the president and vice president. If no candidate achieves a majority there, a contingent election is held by the House of Representatives to elect the president and by the Senate to elect the vice president.

The states and the District of Columbia hold a statewide or district-wide popular vote on Election Day in November to choose electors based upon how they have pledged to vote for president and vice president, with some state laws prohibiting faithless electors. All states except Maine and Nebraska use a party block voting, or general ticket method, to choose their electors, meaning all their electors go to one winning ticket. Maine and Nebraska choose one elector per congressional district and two electors for the ticket with the highest statewide vote. The electors meet and vote in December, and the inaugurations of the president and vice president take place in January.

The merit of the electoral college system has been a matter of ongoing debate in the United States since its inception at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, becoming more controversial by the latter years of the 19th century, up to the present day. More resolutions have been submitted to amend the Electoral College mechanism than any other part of the constitution, with 1969–70 as the closest attempt to reform the Electoral College.

Supporters argue that it requires presidential candidates to have broad appeal across the country to win, while critics argue that it is not representative of the popular will of the nation. Winner-take-all systems, especially with representation not proportional to population, do not align with the principle of "one person, one vote". Critics object to the inequity that, due to the distribution of electors, individual citizens in states with smaller populations have more voting power than those in larger states.

Because the number of electors each state appoints is equal to the size of its congressional delegation, each state is entitled to at least three electors regardless of its population, and the apportionment of the statutorily fixed number of the rest is only roughly proportional. This allocation has contributed to runners-up of the nationwide popular vote being elected president in 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016. In addition, faithless electors may not vote in accord with their pledge. A further objection is that swing states receive the most attention from candidates. By the end of the 20th century, electoral colleges had been abandoned by all other democracies around the world in favor of direct elections for an executive president.

POLLING PLACES

(https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/polling-places)

(https://www.eac.gov/sites/default/files/eac_assets/1/6/)

Chapter_9_Polling_Place_and_Vote_Center_Management.pdf

Key Takeaways

• Polling place locations, including statutory requirements and restrictions
  
• Consolidated polling places and vote centers
  
• The Election Day hours of polling places
  
• Who establishes polling places and when
  
• Restrictions on guns and other weapons in polling places
  
• The role of law enforcement in polling places
  

More than 94,000 polling places were used in the 2022 general election, according to the 2022 Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) report released by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The EAC also reported that less than 1% of those locations were election offices—the vast majority of polling places were at other sites, such as schools or churches.

State laws govern where polling places can be located, and some states are more directive than others. In Arizona's presidential preference primaries, for example, the number of polling places is based on the number of active registered voters in a county. In contrast, some states, such as Florida and Minnesota, simply require one polling place per precinct. Forty-eight states and one territory require local officials to designate polling locations. American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island and South Carolina require state-level involvement.

Walter L. Smith III (WS-3)

CEO/Principal

WS-3 Enterprises & Associates, LLC.

https://WS3Enterprises.Blogspot.com

Mobile Line: (424) 327-0933

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