<P> Under the U.S. Constitution the President and Vice President are chosen by Electors, under a constitutional grant of authority delegated to the legislatures of the several states . The Constitution reserves the choice of the precise manner for creating Electors to the will of the state legislatures . It does not define or delimit what process a state legislature may use to create its state college of Electors . In practice, the state legislatures have generally chosen to create Electors through an indirect popular vote, since the 1820s . Most states have a "winner - take - all" system in which the candidate with the most votes in the state gets all the electoral votes . Maine and Nebraska allow individual congressional districts to elect one elector . </P> <P> In an indirect popular vote, it is the names of the candidates who are on the ballot to be elected . Most states do not put the names of the electors on the ballot . It is generally understood by the voters and the Electors themselves that they are the representative "stand - ins" for the candidates and are expected to cast their electoral college ballots for the President and Vice President who appeared on the ballot . The actual electors being voted for are usually selected by the candidate's party . There are a few cases where some electors have refused to vote for the designated candidate . Many states have mandated in law that Electors shall cast their electoral college ballot for the designated Presidential Candidate . The constitutionality of such mandates is uncertain . </P> <P> Each state chooses as many Electors as it has Representatives and Senators representing it in Congress . Under the 23rd Amendment, the District of Columbia may choose no more electors than the state with the lowest number of electoral votes . No Senators, Representatives or federal officers may become Electors . </P> <P> The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves . And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate . The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted . The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse (sic) by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse (sic) the President . But in chusing (sic) the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice . In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President . But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse (sic) from them by Ballot the Vice President . </P>

The president is given advice from how many executive departments