Friday 2/6 Bell Work: Analyze this cartoon

Its history, what it is, how it works School House Rock……. The Electoral College Its history, what it is, how it works School House Rock…….

The history of THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE Founding Fathers thought about having Congress select a President…but it violated the principle of separation of powers (and Congress might have been able to dominate or influence the president). Popular vote was another alternative, but many Founding Fathers didn’t trust the people to make such an important decision. Final compromise= indirect method of Electoral College (Alexander Hamilton’s idea)

Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution Within each state, each party, picks its own electors (they are loyal, active party members). Electors meet in their state and cast their votes. All electoral votes are counted before a joint session of Congress.

Candidates’ names appear on the ballot, but the voter is really voting for the electors (representative) who will cast a vote for the candidate.

The Electoral College has 538 electors This number is representative of the number of members in the House and the Senate as well as three electors for Washington D.C. AZ= 9 members of the House+ 2 senators= 11 electors from each party

The number of Senators and Representatives the state has in the Congress determine the number of electoral votes given to each state.

A majority of electoral votes is needed to win the Presidential election. That makes the “magic number” 270. How do we get that “magic” number? 538 divided by 2 = 269 + 1 = 270 (majority) Presidential elections are WINNER TAKES ALL A state cannot split electoral votes Whichever party wins the “popular vote” in the state gets that party’s (and therefore the states) electoral votes. (Maine & Nebraska CAN split the vote…but haven’t. They use the congressional district method) The Constitution allows each state legislature to decide how to allocate their electoral votes. If Idaho or California wanted to, they could simply pass a law that says they will split their electoral votes according to the percentage of votes won by each candidate!

Most states do not legally bind the electors to the popular vote. Twenty-nine states plus the District of Columbia have laws to penalize faithless electors, although these have never been enforced.

Presidential electors are loyal party activists who are selected precisely because they can be relied upon to act as willing “rubber-stamps” for their party’s nominee.

Each state will get one vote which carries equal weight. If there is a tie or no one receives a majority of the electoral vote, the House of Representatives must decide the election. Each state will get one vote which carries equal weight. If the representatives of a state cannot agree on a candidate, the state loses its vote. If some representatives favor a strong 3rd party candidate, it could be difficult to reach a majority vote.

United States presidential elections of 1824,1876, 1888 & 2000 John Quincy Adams was sworn in as President on February 9, 1825,yet he did not win either the popular vote OR the electoral votes. Andrew Jackson was the winner in both categories Jackson received 38,000 more popular votes than Adams, and beat him in the electoral vote 99 TO 84. Despite his victories, Jackson didn’t need to reach the 131 votes needed in the electoral college to be declared president. In fact, neither candidate did. The decision went to the House of Representatives.

The House of representatives voted Adams into the White House Considered to be the first election in which the president did not win the popular vote. IN 1876, RUTHERFORD B. HAYES WON THE ELECTION (BY A MARGIN OF ONE ELECTORAL VOTE), BUT HE LOST THE POPULAR VOTE BY MORE THAN 250,000 BALLOTS TO SAMUEL J. TILDEN. IN 1888, BENJAMIN HARRISON RECEIVED 233 ELECTORAL VOTES TO GROVER CLEVELAND’S 168, WINNING THE PRESIDENCY. BUT HARRISON LOST THE POPULAR VOTE BY MORE THAN 90,000 VOTES. IN 2000, GEORGE W. BUSH WAS DECLARED THE WINNER OF THE GENERAL ELECTION AND BECAME THE 43RD PRESIDENT, BUT HE DIDN’T WIN THE POPULAR VOTE EITHER. AL GORE HOLDS THAT DISTINCTION, GARNERING ABOUT 540,000 MORE VOTES THAN BUSH. HOWEVER, BUSH WON THE ELECTORAL VOTE, 271 TO 266.

When the voting takes place Tuesday after the 1st Monday in November Voters cast ballots for President (electors representing a particular party in each state). * ELECTION DAY Monday after the 2nd Wednesday in December electors of the party winning the popular vote in each state cast ballots (at the state capitol) for the President and Vice President.

January 4th Ballots cast by electors are counted by a joint session of Congress REAL ELECTION DAY!

January 20th Candidate receiving majority of electoral votes gets sworn in as President. Sworn into office at noon. They should dress appropriately……. William Harrison (1841)died one month after being sworn into office, from pneumonia. Gave his inaugural address in snow and freezing rain without adequate clothing (longest speech on record); caught a severe cold that developed quickly into fatal pneumonia, because he failed to heed the chills and fever that developed immediately after the speech, instead appearing, dancing, and drinking at all of the inaugural balls.

Check for understanding……take out your slates  Who really elects the president? Why do we have this system? How is the number of electors each state gets decided? What is it based on? How many electors are there in total? How do we know how many electoral votes to give the candidate of the winning party? How many electoral votes does a candidate need to win the presidency?

More Who are these electors? When and where do they actually vote? Can they vote for whomever they want? Could a candidate win the popular vote but not win the Presidency?