The mysterious workings of the electoral college I

　　大选规则失灵，山姆大叔难堪……

　　every four years, there's a great rumbling across a merica. The question has been asked again and again--an d sometimes we figure it all out, only to forget by the time the next election cycle rools around: what is the electoral college?

　　First of all, it's not really a college.

　　During presidential election years, each candidate chooses a group of electors(usually party loyalists)who 've pledged their votes to that candidate. This may com e as a surprise, but on November 7, when we all head of f to the polls, we won't vote for either bush or Gore. We'll vote for an entire slate of electors chosen by ou r favored candidate. So, for example, if bush's slate w ins the plurality of the vote in texas, his group of el ectors will represent that state. And in december, the winning slates gather for state meetings, where the vot es for president are officially cast. Interestingly, el ectors are under no legal obligation to vote for their assigned candidate.

　　How did it come about?

　　The electoral process was devised that appointing e lectors to represent each state was more democratic tha n allowing congress to elect the president and easier t han counting every popular vote.

　　Does every state get the same number of electors?

　　No.sorry, south dakota. Each state has as many elec tors as it has U.S.senators(always two) and U.S represe ntatives(which depends on census population counts).

　　Can two candidates split one state's electoral vote s?

　　Nope. Except in maine and nebraska, the electoral v otes operate on a winner-take-all system. That's why th e candidates spend so much time and money campaigning i n electoral gold mines like california, texas and new y ork--and relatively little time in montana.

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