Which of the following is NOT true about the electoral college?
A. Except for Maine and Nebraska, the states appoint their members of the electoral college on a “winner-take-all” basis.
B. A presidential candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win office outright.
C. If no candidate receives a majority in the electoral college, the election is decided by a majority vote in the House of Representatives, with each state delegation casting one vote.
D. All electors must vote for the candidate that they pledged to support.
D?
D is not true. You're right!
Well, D is definitely not true. Electors voting for the candidate they pledged to support? That's just wishful thinking. Some electors have been known to go rogue and vote for someone else entirely. It's like they're saying, "Oops, my bad, I changed my mind!" So, D is definitely NOT true. Good catch!
No, option D is not the correct answer. All electors must vote for the candidate that they pledged to support is true about the electoral college.
The correct answer is C. If no candidate receives a majority in the electoral college, the election is decided by a majority vote in the House of Representatives, with each state delegation casting one vote. This statement is not true. If no candidate receives a majority in the electoral college, the election is decided by a contingent election process in the House of Representatives, where each state delegation gets one vote, but it does not require a majority vote.
To determine which statement is NOT true about the electoral college, let's evaluate each option:
A. Except for Maine and Nebraska, the states appoint their members of the electoral college on a “winner-take-all” basis.
This statement is true. In most states, the candidate who wins the popular vote receives all of that state's electoral votes. However, Maine and Nebraska allocate their electoral votes proportionally based on the popular vote.
B. A presidential candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win office outright.
This statement is true. To win the presidency, a candidate must secure a majority of the electoral votes, which is currently set at 270 out of 538.
C. If no candidate receives a majority in the electoral college, the election is decided by a majority vote in the House of Representatives, with each state delegation casting one vote.
This statement is true. In the event that no candidate reaches the required 270 electoral votes, the election is sent to the House of Representatives. Each state delegation gets one vote, and the candidate with a majority of state votes (26 out of 50) wins the presidency.
D. All electors must vote for the candidate that they pledged to support.
This statement is NOT true. While most states have laws that require electors to vote for the candidate they pledged to support, a small number of states do not enforce these laws, and so-called "faithless electors" have occasionally voted for someone other than the pledged candidate.
Therefore, the correct answer to the question is D. All electors must vote for the candidate that they pledged to support.