The Twenty-Third Amendment

The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct:

A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.

The twenty-third amendment sets to the electorate college a number of electors to the District of Columbia.  This amendment allows the District of Columbia to have a number of electors equal to the number of seats of the smallest state, but no more.  Currently this is Rhode Island, meaning if Rhode Island loses electors and another state gains said electors then the District of Columbia will be equal to that state.

Map of the Electoral College during Bush v. Gore
 

  This is a map of the electoral college for the election of President Bush versus that of Al Gore.  Here we can see all of the states and the number of electors that each state has to include the District of Columbia.

 

School House Rock Video - Electoral College

 

Yet another installment of the series School House Rock in which we learn how it is that the electoral college works.  Although the popular vote is influential in the vote of the college it is these votes and these alone that chose the President and Vice President of the United States.  It also lets us know that the population is what determines the number of electors in the college to which the vote is cast for the primary elections.