Article 2, Section 1, Paragraph 3
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 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 the President. But in chusing 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 from them by Ballot the Vice President.*
Vote by Ballot for Two People
If every State voted for their own people, the biggest State would always be able to dictate the president! To stop this, two people were to be elected from each state, but one candidate had to be out of state.
It should be noted this whole paragraph has been cancelled in our Constitution because it leaves open too many avenues of problems.
Is there a better way? The Apostles used an interesting method of choosing a replacement disciple. They narrowed the qualified candidates down to two and then cast lots to see who should get the position. This method was also used on several occasions in the Old Testament.
Acts 1:23-26, "And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles."
It is said that the assignments made by lots leave the results up to God.
Proverbs 16:33, "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD."
It is also noted that the casting of lots stops the whole contentious campaign problem.
Proverbs 18:18, "The lot causeth contentions to cease, and parteth between the mighty."
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