Understand the process of electing a President in the USA Judge whether the Electoral College is a good political system

Why Articles of Confed fail Convention facts and who is there 2 Compromises in the Convention Principles – Federalism, Checks and Balances, Separation of Powers 7 Articles, powers for each branch How a Bill Becomes a law How to make an Amendment Electoral College Ratification – Feds vs Antifeds Bill of Rights Supreme Court

All information on how it works is in Article 2, Section 3 How does it work? –Congress picks Electors –Electors pick the President

538 How do you get the #?

Simple Majority of the Electors to vote for you Today, there are 538 Votes –_____ needed to win Electoral College #’s have changed over time –Not anymore –Every 10 yrs, the # of votes for each state can possibly change…why?

Pay attention to the electoral votes for Florida and NY

365 Obama 162 McCain 11 votes not given yet

Theoretically, we vote for our electors Electors then pick the President –More Indirect voting (why?) In every election, electors SHOULD pick what their people want –Today they do –Haven’t always!!

No –There have been elections where a candidate gets the Popular Vote but not the Electoral vote 

– Andrew Jackson gets plurality of the Popular Vote and Electoral College, but loses the presidency to John Quincy Adams…why? –If no MAJORITY, another vote taken…Quincy Adams made deal to beat Jackson – Rutherford B. Hayes won the Electoral College , but his opponent, Samuel Tilden, won the Popular Vote President Grover Cleveland won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College vote to Benjamin Harrison.

Why not just use the popular vote? –Stephen Colbert example… –States rights people were afraid… –Candidates would try to get votes only in populated areas… –Small states wouldn’t matter… –FFs had no faith in Americans to vote directly One delegate said it would like asking a blind person to pick colors!!! 200 years ago, the EC system solves these “problems” –But is it needed now????

Today, the EC is a more a “Winner take All” system in the state –States can change that though  Originally… –2 nd place won VP –12 th amendment made President run with VP on a ticket

The Electoral College has been used for over 200 years The system has flaws –4 of the 56 Elections have been screwed up Options for this country –Keep the EC –Abolish the EC –Modify the EC How do you make a change?