Presidential Election of 1792

Selection of Electors and Electoral Process

In March 1792, Congress passed the Act of 1792 that established the manner in which electors were chosen for positions in the Electoral College. State legislatures were given the duty of ensuring all electors were appointed by the first Wednesday in December. The states were given 34 days prior to this date to choose these electors by whichever means their state legislatures deemed appropriate. The most popular method of elector selection at this time was appointment. However, some states used different methods to obtain electors to represent their state, such as popular election by district or by a general ticket. Other states used mixed systems that combined different elements of elector selection systems to create their own unique way of appointing their electors.

The act also stated that after the votes were cast, they were to be sent to the president of the Senate, whose responsibility it was to open and read these ballots before a quorum of Congress. The votes were to be read on the second Wednesday in February. This solved the problems faced in the 1789 election with states having to rush to get their electors selected and some not being able to meet the deadline.

This was the first election in U.S. history in which all of the original 13 states, as well as the two new additions, Kentucky and Vermont, were eligible to cast their votes in the Electoral College. In the first presidential election of 1789, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and New York were all unable to have electors cast votes because the first two states had yet to ratify the Constitution, and New York was not able to submit the appropriate number of electors by the deadline set by the Continental Congress.

As in the 1789 presidential election, the process of electing the president and vice president was established in Article II of the Constitution. Each elector was allowed to cast two votes in a single election for president and vice president. One vote was allowed to be cast for a candidate from the elector's home state, however, the other vote had to be cast for an individual who hailed from a different state to ensure favoritism based on a shared home state did not taint the elections. The candidate with the majority of the votes was declared president, while the candidate with the second most votes was declared vice president.

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