UNIT 4 ELECTORAL COLLEGE MR Hayner

When you vote for the President you are actually voting for an ELECTOR to vote for you Each state has a determined number of electors

DEFINITION A group of people named by each state legislature to select the President and Vice President

The Electoral College was devised for 3 reasons 1. The framers of the Constitution feared direct democracy. Hamilton and the other founders did not trust the population to make the right choice. “election should be made by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station” – James Madison

The Electoral College was devised for 3 reasons 2. The founding fathers wanted to protect the interests of smaller states and rural areas

The Electoral College was devised for 3 reasons 3. The Electoral College helps dilute the effect of votes from densely populated centers which may steer away from the concerns of the rest of the country

A state’s number of electors is the total number of Senators and Representatives in the House MISSOURI 2 senators 9 representatives Total 11 electors

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 If you get the most votes in that state you get ALL of their electoral college votes

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

As of 2006, the House of Representatives has elected the President on two occasions, in 1801 and in 1825.

A faithless elector is one who casts an electoral vote for someone other than whom they have pledged to elect. On 158 occasions, electors have cast their votes for president in a different manner than that prescribed by the legislature of the state they represent.

Of those, 71 votes were changed because the original candidate died before the elector was able to cast a vote. Two votes were not cast at all when electors chose to abstain from casting their electoral vote for any candidate. The remaining 85 were changed by the elector's personal interest or perhaps by accident.

Since a state's electoral slate is chosen by the political party, and electors are usually those with high loyalty to the party and its candidate, a faithless elector runs a greater risk of party censure than governmental action

It is possible to get more votes overall in the election from the entire country and NOT be elected President Happened in 2000 with Gore vs Bush

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

2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

1984 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Obama and McCain Results

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