The 12th Amendment clarified how a president is elected through the ______?
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1 point
popular vote
public opinion
media
electoral college
electoral college
The 12th Amendment clarified how a president is elected through the electoral college.
The 12th Amendment clarified how a president is elected through the Electoral College.
To understand this, let's go through the steps on how a president is elected in the United States:
1. Candidates from different political parties run campaigns to gain public support.
2. The citizens, through the popular vote, choose electors who will represent them in the Electoral College. Each state has a certain number of electors based on its representation in Congress (House of Representatives + Senate).
3. Once the citizens vote, the electors pledged to a particular candidate will attend a meeting in their respective state capitals, typically in December after the election. This meeting is known as the meeting of the Electoral College.
4. During the meeting, the electors officially cast their votes to select the President and Vice President. In most states, these votes are given to the candidate who won the popular vote in their state.
5. Once the votes are cast, they are sent to the President of the Senate (Vice President of the United States), who is responsible for opening and counting these votes during a joint session of Congress in early January.
6. The candidate who receives a majority of electoral votes (at least 270 out of 538) becomes the President-elect.
The 12th Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1804, clarified the process of how the President and Vice President are elected through the Electoral College. It addressed issues that arose during the election of 1800, where there was confusion and a tie in the Electoral College vote.
Therefore, the correct answer is "electoral college."