A MERICAN GOVERNMENT HOLT HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON The Presidency 1 Section 3: Presidential Nomination and Election Essential Question: Describe the electoral college and how it works, Compare and contract primary elections to general elections; Describe how convention delegates are chosen; Explain the difference between party platforms and planks COPY THESE NOTES DO NOT GLUE IN!!!

A MERICAN GOVERNMENT HOLT HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON The Presidency 2 Section 3: Presidential Nomination and Election The electoral college is a body of electors chosen by the states to vote for president and vice president. Each member of Congress (Rep. or Senator) has one vote. The total number or E.C. votes depends on the total members of Congress each state has. There are 538 electors total: 435 Representatives, 100 Senators, 3 votes for the District of Columbia

A MERICAN GOVERNMENT HOLT HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON The Presidency 3 Section 3: Presidential Nomination and Election With the exception of two states the Electoral college works like this: Whichever candidate receives the majority amount of votes from the citizens of an individual state, all of the electoral college members from that state vote for that “majority candidate.” For example: In California, 10million people vote for Obama, 4.5 million people vote for McCain, All 55 electoral college votes go to Obama A Candidate wins the Presidency when he/she receives 270+ votes (Majority)

A MERICAN GOVERNMENT HOLT HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON The Presidency 4 Section 3: Presidential Nomination and Election Do note copy, but do answer the prompt: Turn to page 164 in your textbook and look at the map at the top. Imagine that you are running for President. You need to get 270 electoral college votes to win. What is the smallest number of states total (of the 50) that you would need to win and receive E.C. votes from to win the election? 5, 10? (My best was 12 states) Be sure to list the states you would need to carry AND the number of E.C. votes they have.

A MERICAN GOVERNMENT HOLT HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON The Presidency 5 Section 3: Presidential Nomination and Election In both Nebraska and Maine they allocate their Electoral college votes according to Congressional districts and a “Statewide” popular vote: 4 electoral college votes in Maine (2 reps./2 Senators) Candidate A wins first district (1 E.C. vote) Candidate B wins second district (1 E.C. vote) Candidate C came close in both first and second districts and gets the 2 statewide E.C. vote

A MERICAN GOVERNMENT HOLT HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON The Presidency 6 Section 3: Presidential Nomination and Election How presidential candidates are chosen: Parties hold national conventions, where delegates nominate candidates.

A MERICAN GOVERNMENT HOLT HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON The Presidency 7 Section 3: Presidential Nomination and Election Party Platform and Planks: Turn to page 161 and, in your own words, describe what a party platform and a plank are.