Slide 1

Electoral College How does the President Become the President??

Slide 2

Election in the Year 2000 Al Gore (D) vs. George Bush (R) National Results: Gore: 50,996,582 votes Bush: 50,456,062 votes Who Wins?

Slide 3

How do we really elect a president? A popular vote is held within each state and whatever candidate has more popular votes in the state wins all of the electoral votes that state is worth What happened in 2000s election?

Slide 4

2000 Election Expected to be VERY close Most states tend to be Democratic or Republican Election would be decided by swing states- states with about = # of Democrats and Republicans Florida was swing state worth 25 Electoral Votes and would likely determine the election

Slide 5

Florida News Flash 2000 Election

Slide 6

Florida News Flash 2 during 2000 Election

Slide 7

Recount ordered in Florida Gore- 266 Electoral Votes Bush- 246 Electoral Votes Florida- Worth 25 Electoral Votes

Slide 8

Bush Wins Florida! Bush- 2,912,790 votes in Florida (48.85%) 271 EV Gore- 2,912,293 votes in Florida (48.84%) 266 EV

Slide 9

Main Things to Know Electoral College- System by which we elect a President in the United States Popular Vote- Number of individual votes candidates get from people in the U.S. Electoral Vote- This is the number of votes that determines winner of the election. Each state is worth a number of points or electoral votes = same as # in Congress + Washington DC = 3

Slide 10

How the Electoral College Works Main political parties select 1 candidate each to runPrimary or Caucus to determine the 1. Why would 2 candidates from the same party guarantee a loss? Popular vote held in each state and winner of state gets ALL electoral votes (points) Electoral Vote total each state is worth is same as # that state has in congress (Senate and House of Representatives combined) Example: If Iowa has 6 members in congress the state is worth 6 electoral votes. Whether a candidate wins a state by a lot or a little they get all electoral votes (points) of the state Gore won a states by a LOT Bush won states by a LITTLE

Slide 11

Electoral College 4 times a candidate has won popular vote and lost election Census- population of each state figured every 10 years. This could change the number of electoral votes that state is worth. Example: Iowa was worth 7 electoral votes in 2008 election but only 6 in 2012 election Why?

Slide 12

Projections for 2016? Questions to consider 1. How can they already know which states will go to Republican and which states Democratic without knowing who is running? 2.What states will determine the winner? 3.What are some states worth high point values (electoral votes)? Low values? http://www.270towin.com/2016_election_pr edictions.php?mapid=bIrY http://www.270towin.com/2016_election_pr edictions.php?mapid=bIrY

Slide 13

Electoral College Problem Solving Group Work Using the information provided you and your group should come up with an Electoral College score for the 8 states given from the 2012 election. Answer the following 1) Who wins the election based on these 8 states? 2) How many electoral votes does each candidate have? 3) How many popular votes does each candidate have? BONUS: Assuming the same results within each state, what would the electoral vote count have been if these results were in 2008 (use 2008 electoral map)?

Slide 14

2012 Election Results Barack Obama (D) vs. Mitt Romney (R) Wyoming_________ Romney- 170,265 Obama- 68,780 Illinois________ Romney- 2,090,116 Obama- 2,916,811 Colorado________ Romney- 1,125,391 Obama- 1,238,490 Texas Romney- 4,555,799 Obama- 3,294,440 Ohio________________ Romney- 2,593,779 Obama- 2,697,260 Arizona________ Romney- 1,143,051 Obama- 930,669 Tennessee Romney-1,453,097 Obama- 953,043 Pennsylvania________ Romney- 2,619,583 Obama- 2,907,448

Slide 15

Slide 16

2008