Question

"how did the framers decide the president and vice president should be selected?"

Answer 1

US Presidents are elected by the people, sort of. Each state must conduct an election on the 1st Tuesday after the first Monday in November every four years. After the votes are tallied the candidate with the most votes is awarded that state's electoral votes. Each state and DC have electors in the Electoral College equal to their Congressional representation. In Ohio, for instance, there are 18 congressional districts and 2 Senators which means they have 20 electors. Why do we have electors and not just a popular vote? Larger states like California or Texas could drown out the votes of say Idaho or Rhode Island. The founders wanted a candidate to have a broad appeal and not just cater to population centers. The electors are based on population anyhow so the larger states have an advantage all the same. The party who wins the electors then sends delegates to Washington to vote for their candidates. The delegates are not legally bound to vote for the winner of the state elections and while a few people in history have cast a vote for someone other than the person who won, it hasn't amounted to any differences in presidential outcomes. The votes are tallied in the well of the House of Representatives in a joint session of Congress. It is presided over by the President of the Senate who happens to be the sitting Vice President of the United States. In 1988 the winner of the election was George H.W. Bush who also happened to be the sitting Vice President and so he declared himself the winner. In 2000, after a bitter and partisan fight over votes in Florida, George W. Bush was the winner of the electors from Florida thus the Presidency and the proceedings in the House was presided over by his opponent, the sitting Vice President, Al Gore, who declared Bush the winner.

Answer 2

they chosen by a body of presidential electors/ electoral college