=The Actual Methods of Election Today.=—At the first two elections this plan was followed. There were no nominations and no campaign preceding the election. But at the election of 1796 it was well understood, even before the electors met, that the contest would be between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. And as time went on the actual practice drifted further away from the original plan of free choice by unpledged electors. Political parties grew up; the electors were chosen with the definite understanding that they would vote for a particular party candidate, and their share in the election became purely nominal. In 1804 some changes were made in the method of election but they did not affect the general plan or the current practice. Gradually the people took into their own hands the function of choosing the President; everywhere the state legislatures turned the work of choosing the electors over to them, so that the presidential elections became, in everything but name and form, direct elections by the people.[124] [Sidenote: Five steps in the choosing of a President:] In the choice of a President there are now five steps, but only two of these are of any practical importance. First, each political party nominates its candidate at a national convention, as already described.[125] [Sidenote: 1. The nomination of candidates.] Second, in each state the political parties nominate, either by primaries or state conventions, their respective slates or groups of electors. [Sidenote: 2. The nomination of electors.] Third, the voters on election day decide which group of electors shall be given the formal function of electing the President. This the voters do on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November every fourth year. [Sidenote: 3. The polling.] Each voter marks his ballot for a group of electors but what he really does is to indicate his preference for one of the candidates already nominated at the party conventions. This means, of course, that one or the other group of electors is chosen as a whole and the state’s vote cast solidly. It rarely happens, for example, that a state casts ten electoral votes for one candidate and five for another; if it has fifteen votes they all go to one candidate. For this reason it sometimes happens that a candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes although not a majority of the popular votes, taking the country as a whole. [Sidenote: 4. The action of the electors.] Fourth, the electors meet in their respective states and cast their votes. Fifth, these votes are opened in Washington and counted in the presence of Congress. [Sidenote: 5. Counting the votes.] Among these five steps the first and third are the important ones. The last step is nothing but a formality unless it appears that no candidate has received a majority. In case this happens the House of Representatives proceeds to choose a President from among the three candidates who have stood highest. In the case of