THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE Each State has as many electoral votes as it has U.S. Senators and Representatives. NOVEMBER Voters go to polls in the general election & vote for P & VP (popular vote); But, are actually choosing a slate of electors chosen by each political party.

The candidate who gets the most popular votes gets ALL of that state’s electoral votes. It is a winner-take-all system in most states.

Primary criticism of the Electoral College?

DECEMBER JANUARY Electors (representing the winning Candidate only) meet in their state capitals and vote for P & VP. JANUARY Votes from the states are opened by the President of the Senate and counted and P & VP winners are officially declared. January 20 the new President is sworn in.

A candidate needs a majority of the electoral votes to win: 270 of the total 538 electoral votes. If there is a tie (or no candidate gets a majority) in the electoral votes, the House of Representatives chooses the P. Each state gets only one vote. 29 FL currently has 29 electoral votes.

“Minority President” Is a president who wins the election with less than a majority of the popular vote.                                                                            42% 1992 50% 1996 46% 2000

ELECTION 2000 ELECTORAL VOTE: BUSH (R) 277 GORE (D) 261 POPULAR VOTE: BUSH 50,456,062 GORE 59,996,582 FLORIDA VOTE: BUSH 2,912,790 GORE 2,912,253

Thousands of ballots had gone uncounted; many ballots were rejected by the machines because voters had made mistakes.

The Chad Problem

Bush v. Gore, 2000 Bush’s lead in FL over Gore was less than 1/10 of 1% - triggered an automatic recount under FL law Palm Beach ballots led to lots of “no votes” with ballots not properly punched through FLORIDA SUPREME COURT Gore sued in FL Supreme Court to get a manual recount Bush opposed saying manual recount would be arbitrary, subject to manipulation, human error & differing standards FL SUPREME COURT ruled with Gore U.S. SUPREME COURT Bush appealed SUPREME COURT overruled FL Court agreeing with Bush’s position in that case Held that even though recount was legal, same standards for evaluation would have to be applied in all counties which was impossible Gore concedes

Saturday Night Live! Election 2000 the lockbox -- the idea of keeping all payroll tax receipts totally segregated from the rest of the government's balance sheet http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/gore-state-of-the-union/229115