Even though Obama won the 2012 Presidential Elections, he hasn’t been appointed to a second term just yet as the Electoral College is yet to cast their vote, which in most cases, is based on the winner of each state. Speaking of the possibility of defections when casting these votes, an attorney for the Office of the Federal Register, Miriam Vincent said, “Those instances are very isolated. That’s not to say it won’t happen this year, but it’s unlikely, based on history.”
If one looks back to 2000, George Bush was elected as President even though he did not win the popular vote. However, with the electoral college appointing him as President and not Gore, the media are using this instance to suggest that something similar might happen this year too. Yet with only nine defections occuring since 1948, it seems as if with Obama winning 320 electoral votes to Romney’s 206, it seems that the votes cast by the Electoral College will also go in his favor. Historically speaking, only three other Presidents, apart from Bush, made it to the White House without the popular vote in the 1800s.
While some people argue that this system is archaic, the country’s founders did not want to appoint Congress to elect the President since it would work against the concept of ‘checks and balances’ that the entire system was based on. However, Congress will have the responsibility of formally announcing that Obama is the winner of the 2012 Presidential Elections on January 6, 2013.