Origins of the Electoral College

• The electoral college was created by the founding fathers of the Constitution as part of a compromise between the election of a president by congress and election by a popular vote

• Many of the founders of the Constitution did not trust the people of the new country to make a sound and educated decision

- When you vote for the President you are actually voting for an ELECTOR to vote for you

- Each state has a pre-determined number of electors

A state’s number of electors is the total number of Senators and Representatives in the House

MISSOURI2 senators8 representatives

Total 10 electors

Who are the Electors?

• The electors are a popularly elected body chosen by the states and District of Columbia on the “first Tuesday after the first Monday in November”

• These are usually long-standing party activists

Qualifications

• Article II section I clause II states “No Senator or Representative or a person holding an office of trust or profit shall be appointed an elector.”

• He or she cannot be someone who has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the U.S.

There are a total of 538 electoral votes

(the District of Columbia is not a state but is given 3 electoral votes)

48 out of the 50 states have a “winner takes all” method

The winner of these states receives ALL electoral college votes for the state!

2 states are different and can divide up their votes based on congressional district - Nebraska and Maine

A candidate must have 270 electoral votes to win the Presidential election

If no single candidate gets the required 270 electoral votes then the House of Representatives votes to decide the President

2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Total Votes in 2000 Election:

Bush 50,461,092 total votes(47.9%)271 Electoral Votes

Gore 50,994,086 total votes(48.4%)266 Electoral Votes

Nader 2,882,728 total votes(2.7%)0 Electoral College Votes

Bush v. Gore

• Bush v. Gore- The differing ways in which various counties were recounting votes violated the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.

• Supreme Court rules 5-4 decision to end recounts, ultimately giving Bush a 537-vote lead in Florida and Florida’s 25 electoral votes. Decision still remains highly controversial.

1984 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Critical Thinking

• What are some of the potential problems with the current system of electing a president?

• What, if anything, should be done to change this process?

Concerns with this system

• Because certain states have such a large population and thus more electoral votes, there becomes a great disparity between the political candidates campaigning in certain states.

• Candidates have a tendency to concentrate their efforts on big states more than small states (“Fly Over States”)

Faithless Electors

• Faithless electors are those for one reason or another do not vote for their party’s designated candidate

• There have been 157 faithless electors -people who have voted for someone outside of the party’s recommendation.

• In 1836, 23 electors from Virginia acted together to change their vote

Minority Vote

• It is not necessary to earn a majority of votes in order to win the election.

• In fact several presidents have been elected without a majority of votes in the November election.

• In 1824, 1876, 1888 and 2000 this occurred

Only necessary to win big states

• In 2000 it was possible to win just 11 states and become President.

• In 2000: California 55, Texas 34, New York 31, Florida 27, Illinois 27, Pennsylvania 21, Ohio 20, Michigan 17, Georgia 15, New Jersey 15, North Carolina 15

• 271 electoral votes = President of the United States

Does My Vote Count?

  Population Electoral votes Residents per

elector Weight of vote

California 33,871,648 54 627,253 0.83

North Carolina 8,049,313 14 574,951 0.91

Alaska 626,932 3 208,977 2.50

United States 281,421,906 538 523,089 1.00

Yes, your vote counts, but every vote does count, it just counts in a more complicated way.