“A sham and a waste of time” -Robyn Sunderland* The Electoral College “A sham and a waste of time” -Robyn Sunderland* *The only thing she remembers from her high school history classes

What is the Electoral College NOT a place, it is a process Constitutional process for electing the President and Vice-President Perhaps the weirdest part of our political system Very confusing Very controversial Endured nonetheless

Why the Electoral College? Framers fearful of “mob rule” Put in a safety valve in case the people ever wanted to elect someone terrible

How Does it Work? Total # of Electoral Votes = 1 for each seat in Congress Today = 538 Senate seats = 100 House seats = 435 DC = 3 (per 23rd Amendment) To become POTUS, must have highest number of electoral and at least a majority Today, to win presidency must have at least 270

Today’s Electoral Map

Who Casts Electoral Votes? Each candidate’s party chooses electors who have pledged to vote for that candidate if given the opportunity Regular voters in each state cast votes for the electors of the candidate of their choice Popular Vote The candidate whose electors get the majority of popular votes in each state are “elected” to vote in the Electoral College

Winner Take All All but 2 states (ME & NE) use “Winner Take All” method Whichever candidate’s electors gets a majority of popular vote, has ALL of their electors elected Ex. PA = 20 electoral votes Candidate A’s electors get 51% of popular vote in PA so 100% of Candidate A’s electors in PA get to vote in Electoral College ME & NE use divide electoral votes proportionally

WTH? (The Weird Stuff) Pretty Undemocratic Faithlessness Winner Take All System = Only have to win 11 most populous states to win Possible for candidate who lost the popular vote to win the electoral vote Happened 4 times so far (1824, 1876, 1888, 2000) Possible for candidate who did not win a majority of popular votes to win electoral vote Happened 14 times so far Maybe this is a virtue of the Electoral College