Can the legislature of the states decide how presidential electors may be chosen?

No, members of the electoral college are chosen by each state's political party. For example, in California, the Democrats and Republicans (and presumably other parties such as the Green and Libertarian Parties) would select 55 devoted party members to be electors. California (as most states) has a winner-take-all system, so if, say Sen. Barack Obama won the popular vote of California, the 55 chosen electors of the Democratic Party of CA would go to their state capitol, Sacramento, on the Monday after the second Wednesday of December to cast their votes. In the 2008 election, it will be Dec. 15. The electors cast separate ballots for President and VP. Under the US Constitution, electors may choose whoever they want, but 24 states have laws punishing faithless electors, or electors who chose a candidate other than their political party's for President. (If you check out 270towin.com, they have historical Presidential election maps, along with mentions of third party electoral vote wins and those "faithless electors