 A. Established by the Constitutional Convention  Very controversial  Framers trust the people?  Regionalism?  Slavery?

 Some folks wanted the Congress to choose the President  What would be some good reasons for this?  Some folks wanted direct election of the people to choose.  What would be some good reasons for this?

 Remember the 5 slave states at the Constitutional Convention? They made sure most everything done at the convention protected or helped slavery.  The electoral college (along with the 3/5 compromise) inflated the vote of the southern states, because they “counted” slave population. This gave them more power to choose the President. Don’t believe this- how many Presidents of the first 17 were from the North and Anti Slavery? Answer- John Adams/John Q Adams.  And what did the south do when Lincoln got elected….they got mad and left the Union (big babies !) 

 HOW MANY VOTES DOES EACH STATE GET? (What is the formula?)

 President is chosen based on electoral votes not the popular vote.  Electoral votes for a state are based on the number of US Representatives + 2 (US Senators) .If there are 435 Reps, what is the total?

 Solve for X  (# of Reps) + (# of Senators) = X (total # of electoral votes)

 Answer is…… 538  (Who did you forget?)  How many do you need to win the election?

 Answer is …..270

 The state (recognized) political party chair appoints candidates for the office of presidential elector and files their names with the Secretary of State(Arizona). So the Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians all choose 10 people to vote for President.

 Whichever party wins the popular vote in the state (They don’t need to win a majority), takes ALL of the votes. This is the “Winner Take All” system (Only Maine and Nebraska don’t have winner take all. They do the “District system”. More on that later)

 Which ever candidate wins the popular vote, the electors of that party get to vote.  3,000,001 Candidate 1  2,999,999 Candidate 2

 If no candidate wins a majority, the House of Representatives decides from among the top 3 candidates.

 Each state is given 1 vote to have their Reps decide how it is to be cast.  How many votes/states are needed to win?  Who has just been left out of this process?  What happens if a state has 8 US Reps and the vote is 4-4

 26 needed to win  D.C. just got thrown under the bus  The state’s vote gets thrown out.

 Thomas Jefferson v Aaron Burr (the guy was supposed to be and ended up being his VP). 33 votes in the House of Reps…. Finally Alexander Hamilton convinced a Rep in Md to change his vote to Jefferson.  John Q Adams v Andrew Jackson (there were 3 other people running). Henry Clay (one of the 3), through his support behind Adams in exchange for becoming Sec of State.

 George Wallace attempted to bring the election of 1968 to the House of Reps, where he could control the outcome in a close election  How? Make sure no one gets 270. In the House, he could control 5 states, which could decide who wins

  Votes are counted by the Senate on January 6 th with the announcement from the President of the Senate  A) so in 2001, Al Gore had to announce his own defeat  B) In 1989, George Bush got to announce his own victory.

 Popular Vote winner doesn’t always win(1824,1876, 1888, 2000)  House would decide if no majority (Consent?)  Lowers voter turnout in the “always red or blue” states.

 George W. Bush 50,460, %  Al Gore Jr. 51,003, %  Electoral Vote (An Elector from Washington DC chose not to vote to protest D.C. not having congressional representation.)

 Electors don’t have to vote with state.  We have had numerous “MAVERICK” electors. (People who voted for someone else). The last was  It has also happened in 1972, 1976,  Bad news: they did their own thing  Good news: it had no impact on the election and no one cared (except Govt teachers)

 Someday, I want to have someone cast an electoral vote for me for President.  I want to be this guy right here *……. * ELECTION OF 2024 DEMOCRAT REPUBLICAN * SAVERINO

 Now imagine that there is an election in 2024…..  And the score is 270 to 268 BUT  One of my ex students is an elector for the 270 group  Now the score is 269 to 268 to 1 (Me!)  Who wins?????

 The House of Representatives chooses from (drum roll please….) the top 3 candidates (Wait…that’s me!)  Because the House cannot choose from the major two…  In an amazing display of bi partisanship, the House chooses an aged US Government teacher to lead the nation  I become President AND my first act is to appointment my ex student ambassador to Tahiti.

 The presidential election coming up in 2012 will be decided by 8 states  Ohio, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, New Mexico, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey  The rest of us have already been determined  Arizona has voted for a Democratic candidate only once (1996) since 1948.

Game Total Runs D- backs Yanks

 A) District Plan  B) Proportional Plan  C) Direct Election ANYONE THINK THESE ARE BETTER ????

POSITIVESNEGATIVES  EVERY VOTE COUNTS EQUAL  No Electoral College  No Maverick Electors  A) BIG QUESTION- would the winner have to get 50%  1) if yes….run off (boo)  2) if no…. Your president doesn’t get 50% of anything  B) EXPENSIVE  C) INCREASES THE POWER OF 3 rd PARTIES

District Plan Used by Neb. NEBRASKA has 3 districts Each district has its own election for 1 electoral vote Whoever wins the state gets 2 votes.

POSITIVESNEGATIVES  A) increase voter turnout  B) more democratic  C) No maverick electors  A) INCREASES THE POWER OF MINOR PARTIES !!!!  B) MORE EXPENSIVE

 WARNING- MATH SKILLS REQUIRED  A state has 10 electoral votes  Candidate A gets 60%  Candidate B gets 40 %  How many votes does each get?

 Candidate A gets 6  Candidate B gets 4  (Do the math!)  The quiz question will have nice round numbers.

POSITIVENEGATIVES  More democratic  Increase voter turnout  No mavericks or “winner can lose”  INCREASES POWER OF 3 rd PARTIES  Expensive

 WE HATE 3 rd PARTIES  WE HATE CHANGE  C) WE HATE AMENDME NTS