<P> In 1800 the Democratic - Republican Party again nominated Jefferson for president and also nominated Aaron Burr for vice president . After the election, Jefferson and Burr both obtained a majority of electoral votes but tied one another with 73 votes each . Since ballots did not distinguish between votes for president and votes for vice president, every ballot cast for Burr technically counted as a vote for him to become president, despite Jefferson clearly being his party's first choice . Lacking a clear winner by constitutional standards, the election had to be decided by the House of Representatives pursuant to the Constitution's contingency election provision . </P> <P> Having already lost the presidential contest, Federalist Party representatives in the lame duck House session seized upon the opportunity to embarrass their opposition by attempting to elect Burr over Jefferson . The House deadlocked for 35 ballots as neither candidate received the necessary majority vote of the state delegations in the House (the votes of nine states were needed for an election). Jefferson achieved electoral victory on the 36th ballot, but only after Federalist Party leader Alexander Hamilton--who disfavored Burr's personal character more than Jefferson's policies--had made known his preference for Jefferson . </P> <P> Responding to the problems from those elections, the Congress proposed on December 9, 1803, and three - fourths of the states ratified by June 15, 1804, the Twelfth Amendment . Starting with the 1804 election, the amendment requires electors cast separate ballots for president and vice president, replacing the system outlined in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 . </P> <P> Alexander Hamilton described the framers' view of how electors would be chosen: "A small number of persons, selected by their fellow - citizens from the general mass, will be most likely to possess the information and discernment requisite to such complicated (tasks)." The founders assumed this would take place district by district . That plan was carried out by many states until the 1880s . For example, in Massachusetts in 1820, the rule stated "the people shall vote by ballot, on which shall be designated who is voted for as an Elector for the district ." In other words, the people did not place the name of a candidate for a president on the ballot, instead they voted for their local elector, whom they trusted later to cast a responsible vote for president . </P>

How is the size of the electoral college for each state determined