Transcript The Electoral College System - Mr

The Electoral College System
The process in which the
President of the United States is
elected
“Do now” Activity
Should the President of the United
States be elected through the majority
vote by his or her fellow citizens? Why
or why not?
Presidential Election
Occurs once every four years

President can only serve two consecutive terms;
once this occurs, he or she can no longer be
nominated for president
Contest between Republican and Democratic
Candidate

Third Party candidates often run as Independents
Popular Vote – a percentage that reflects the
most votes given to a presidential candidate
by registered voters in a presidential election

Does not determine who wins presidency
The Electoral College
The candidate who wins the popular vote in a
state wins the pledged votes of the state’s
electors
Each state gets a number of electors equal to
its number of members in the U.S. House of
Representatives and one additional elector for
its two U.S. Senators

The district of Columbia, the capital of the United
States, gets three electors
The Electoral College Con’t
Each elector gets one vote

State of PA has 20 electors (19 members in the
House of Rep. And 2 State Senators)
Currently 538 electors that make up the
Electoral College
A presidential candidate is required to win a
majority of electors = 270
Primarily based on representation in House of
Representatives
States with larger populations, like California
(55), Texas (38), Florida (29), and New York
(29), have more electors
12th Amendment
If no one wins majority (270) of electors, the
House of Representatives decides election
Each Representative gets one vote
Majority of votes needed to win
Has occurred twice


Thomas Jefferson (DR) v John Adams (F)
(1801)
John Quincy Adams (DR) v Andrew Jackson
(DR) v William Crawford (DR) v Henry Clay (DR)
(1825)
Official Day a Winner is Picked
A candidate is usually assumed as the winner
by midnight on election day
Winner undecided until the first Monday after
the second Wednesday in December
Electors meet in their state capitals to cast
vote; this process determines the winner
This is the process due to travel time / lack of
modern transportation in the 1800s
Critics of Electoral College
Critics point to the problem that a
candidate could still win the presidency
despite losing the popular vote due to
the Electoral College
It is mathematically possibly for a
president to not register a vote in 39
smaller states and Dist. Of Columbia
and still become elected president
Example: 2012 Election
Barack Obama
Democrat
Loses Popular Vote
Wins CA (55), TX (38),
NY (29), FL (29), PA
(20), IL (20), OH (18),
MI (16), NJ (14), NC
(15), GA (16), VA (13)
= 283 electoral votes
Wins election
Mitt Romney
Republican
Wins Popular Vote
Wins remaining 39
states plus the
district of Columbia
= 255 electoral
votes
Loses election
Has This Happened?
3 times:



Rutherford B Hayes (R) v Samuel J.
Tilden (D) (1876)
Benjamin Harrison (R) v Grover
Cleveland (D) (1888)
George W. Bush (R) v Al Gore (D) (2000)
Why was the Electoral College
Created?
Framers of the Constitution wanted people to
have direct input for electing the president
Saw this in two ways:

(1) direct popular election (2) election by congress
Feared popular election


No organized parties or structure to choose/ limit
number of candidates
Also, lack of travel and communication; candidate
could be popular in one region and unknown in
another
Reason for Electoral College
Con’t
Election by Congress required members
to address interests of people on their
states and vote for themselves

Would lead to elections that reflected
opinions of Congress and not the people
Electoral College System is a
compromise between a direct popular
election and an election by Congress
Your Opinion
Are you in favor of the Electoral
College? If you are or are not in favor
of the Electoral College, please explain
why.