Steve Breen, New Jersey -- Steve's Pulitzer Prize winning cartoons from the Asbury Park Press

Electoral College

Seriously, why does it even exist?

Electoral College

Requires a majority of the electors from the 50 states

270 electoral votes

What is the Electoral College?

Electors: popularly-elected representatives formally elect the President and Vice

President of the United States.

So basically…

Rather than directly voting for the President and Vice President, United States citizens vote for electors.

Whatever happened to democracy?

The creation of the Electoral College WHO:

The Framers (creators) of the U.S. Constitution.

WHAT: The Electoral College:

Article III, Section 1, Paragraphs 2 and 3 in the U.S. Constitution.

WHEN: 1787 – 1791.

WHERE: Constitutional Convention,

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. WHY:

Representation, Fear, and Knowledge

Framers: Why we need electors

James Madison, Federalist No. 39: Constitution was designed to be a

mixture of state-based and population-based government. The Congress would have two houses:

the state-based Senate population-based House of Representatives.

President would be elected by a mixture of the two modes

Representation

Balance representation (power) big states (like New York) small states (like Delaware)

States were already suspicious of giving the government too much control over state affairs.

SOLUTION

The people oppose allowing the national government to decide a presidential election State elections Each state cast an overall electoral vote

for the winning candidate

Fear

Believed that the general public did not know enough about candidates or politics to cast an adequate vote.

Create a system to keep the general “masses” from directly voting for a President.

State electors cast official votes for President and Vice-President after the popular vote occurred

Appointed electors men of character knowledgeable about politics agree upon and select candidates who

could represent the majority of the people as a President.

SOLUTION: A “fool-proof” plan

Knowledge How were citizens supposed to know

anything about candidates from other states? No “mass media” transportation and communication were

difficult. Unlikely that even those citizens who

were knowledgeable about politics could be fully informed to make decisions about candidates from other states.

Justification

Electors would keep the people from voting on candidates from their own state. (No candidate would get a national

majority if that happened)

Today

The election process is basically the same: voting allows a voter to “tell” electors

which candidate the voter wants the elector to vote for.

“faithless electors” No law stating that electors have to vote for

the candidate that they originally pledged their vote to!

An Ideal Election

President =

Educated Man + Political Knowledge + Majority Popular Vote + Majority Electoral Vote

The Election Process in Plain English

ANOTHER WAY TO LOOK AT THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE…

Compare it to the World Series…

A comparison by George Will, newspaper columnist, journalist, author, Pulitzer Prize winner.

Electoral College

Requires a majority of the electors from the 50 states

270 electoral votes

A World Series winner must be the first to win four of a possible seven games*

GM 1: Yankees 10, Red Sox 7 GM 2: Yankees 3, Red Sox 1 GM 3: Yankees 19, Red Sox 8 GM 4: Red Sox 6, Yankees 4 GM 5: Red Sox 5, Yankees 4 GM 6: Red Sox 4, Yankees 2 GM 7: Red Sox 10, Yankees 3

*Our example will use the 2004 Championship Series: Red Sox defeat Yankees. The concept, however, is the same.

If the World Series were won by total points (popular vote)…

GM 1: Yankees 10, Red Sox 7 GM 2: Yankees 3, Red Sox 1 GM 3: Yankees 19, Red Sox 8 GM 4: Red Sox 6, Yankees 4 GM 5: Red Sox 5, Yankees 4 GM 6: Red Sox 4, Yankees 2 GM 7: Red Sox 10, Yankees 3

Yankees: 45

Red Sox: 41

One team scores more, but who won the series?

You can’t change the rules in the middle of a game.

Flaws in the System

The winner of the popular vote is not guaranteed the presidency

Electors are not required to vote in accordance with the popular vote

Any election might have to be decided in the House of Representatives