The Electors in the First Presidential Election in 1788

[Online Professor]

 

Electoral college selection[edit]

The Constitution, in Article II, Section 1, provided that the state legislatures should decide the manner in which their Electors were chosen. Different state legislatures chose different methods:^[8]

Method of choosing electors	State(s)
each elector appointed by the state legislature	Connecticut Georgia New Jersey New York(a) South Carolina
two electors appointed by state legislature each remaining elector chosen by state legislature from list of top two vote-getters in each congressional district	Massachusetts
each elector chosen by voters statewide; however, if no candidate wins majority, state legislature appoints elector from top two candidates	New Hampshire
state is divided into electoral districts, with one elector chosen per district by the voters of that district	Virginia(b) Delaware
electors chosen at large by voters	Maryland Pennsylvania
state had not yet ratified the Constitution, so was not eligible to choose electors	North Carolina Rhode Island