1. The Electoral College
I. What is the Electoral College?
A. Article II of the Constitution stipulates the President and VP will be elected by a slate (group) of electors. Each party selects its own slate, and the winning party’s slate gets to vote for President and VP.
II. Why did the Framers create the Electoral College?
B. Served as a buffer between the uninformed masses and the government.
1. The electors would be informed and qualified.

2. The Electoral College
III. Potential or perceived problems.
A. Faithless electors- electors don’t vote for whom the people chose.
1. Very rare. Has never affected an election.
B. Popular vote winner does not win the election.
1. Has happened before, most recent Trump v Clinton Also, Bush v Gore 2000.
2. Electoral College math- play the game.
a CA : Clinton 8.8 Million votes, Trump 4.5 million.
b. Likely closer if electoral votes were split.
C. Only swing states really matter.
1. Candidates focus on swing states. Losing party votes in “predetermined” states have no effect on the outcome.

4. The Electoral College
IV. So why not change the system?
- The people are educated, have access to mass media.
- Don’t like having popular vote winner lose the election.
- Would like to have all voters and states “matter.”
A. It would take a Constitutional Amendment to change replace the electoral college- ¾ of the states would have to agree.

5. The Electoral College
E. The smaller states would never agree to change it because they matter more in the electoral college than they would in popular vote.
Population
Electoral college
CA: 38 Million
House districts: 53
+ 2 senators = 55
WY: 585,000
House districts: 1
+ 2 senators = 3
CA: 66X bigger than WY.
CA: 18 X bigger than WY
F. If straight popular vote, candidates would only campaign in major population centers, ignoring small states and rural areas.

6. Magnifies outcome – 1992 as an example
Another possible advantage of the Electoral college…
Magnifies outcome – 1992 as an example
Candidate Popular vote % EC %
Clinton
Bush
Perot
2012 Election Popular Vote Percentage EC EC%
Obama Million % %
Romney Million % %
2016 Election Popular Vote Percentage EC EC%
Trump Million % %
Clinton Million % %