-> They do.  It's clearly spelled out in the Constitution:
->
-> ________________________________
-> Article II.
->
-> a2.Section 1.
->
-> 2 Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof
-> may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of
-> Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in
-> the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an
-> office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be
-> appointed an elector.
-> _________________________________
->
->
-> How the _states_ chose to select and control those electors, varies
-> from state to state.  Yes, it is party controlled, but only through
-> the state government, not directly.  And yes, there have been very
-> few instances of the electorial collage voting outside the
-> _current_, dominating parties.  However, it has not been
-> particularly uncommon for the electorial collage to elect a
-> president the majority of the people rejected.
Well, the first thing to keep in mind is that political parties are not
mentioned in the Constitution at all.  The Founding Fathers didn't like
partisan political parties and had the rather naive hope that none would
develop here.
I am 99.9% sure that, here in NY at least, each party has it's own slate
of electors, pledged to vote for their parties candidate, and on
election day, you are voting WHICH slate to send to the electoral
college.
But I will call my local board of elections tomorrow and check on that.
As everyone else who wonders about it should call THEIR board of
elections.
But I would be not only APALLED but **AMAZED** if there is any state
that has only ONE slate of electors pre-selected to go to the electoral
college even before the election is held.  I feel confident that one of
the major parties would be screaming it's head off about it if that were
the case.
As for someone winning the popular vote but losing the election, just
off the top of my head, I think the Nixon-Kennedy race was the last time
it happened.
I have mixed feelings about it, myself.  The Electoral College came
about because, frankly, the Founders **DIDN'T** trust the common man.
They worried about mob rule.  And considering the way the French
Revolution degenerated into the Reign of Terror, who's to say they were
wrong to worry about it?
You could argue that the whole point of having a Constitution, and a
Bill of Rights, in particular, is to frustrate the Will of the Majority
in some instances.
Regards
John
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