
For a Fledgling Democracy, Early US Politics Had the Elite Choosing Our President
Here’s something that might surprise you: for the first few decades of American history, most citizens couldn’t vote for president at all. Their state politicians just picked the president’s electors for them—no public vote required. So how did we get from that system to the one we have today? It wasn’t a single law or dramatic moment. Instead, it was a messy, state-by-state process that took nearly 80 years to complete. What Are Presidential Electors, Anyway? Before we dive into the history, let’s clear up what “electors” actually means. When you vote for president today, you’re not technically voting for the candidate directly. You’re voting for a slate of electors—people who will officially cast your state’s votes in something called the Electoral College. It’s these electors who actually choose the president. The U.S. Constitution left it completely up to each state to decide how to pick these electors. And in the beginning, most states decided their legislatures would just choose them behind closed doors.
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