The Electoral College - Fry's Fab Five · 2018-10-13 · • The Electoral College meets a few...
Transcript of The Electoral College - Fry's Fab Five · 2018-10-13 · • The Electoral College meets a few...
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What is the Electoral College?
• The Electoral College is NOT a University!
• College: -noun An organized association of
persons having certain powers and rights, and
performing certain duties or engaged in a particular
pursuit: The electoral college formally selects the
president.
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• How to choose the president was a
major conflict at the Constitutional
Convention
• Framers didn’t want Congress alone to
decide who should be president
• It would give congress too much
power
• They worried if they left it up to the
people to decide, most would vote for
their local candidate
• This would give an unfair advantage to
the larger states
• They wanted small states to have a
more equal voice
History of the Electoral College
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• Framers looked to the Roman
Republic for ideas
• Roman Republic didn’t want the
rich to have too much power
• They had the Centurial Assembly
• Divided male citizens into groups
of 100 according to wealth
• Each group received only one
vote
• It was this idea that led to
compromise on the issue of
electing a president
History of the Electoral College
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History of the Electoral College • Article II of the Constitution lists the specifics of the
Electoral College
• When we vote for president, we are actually casting our votes for electors
• Electors will then cast their votes for the candidates
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History of the Electoral College • Each state has the same
number of electoral votes as they have Senators and Representatives
• A State’s electoral votes are equal to its representation in Congress
• Senators plus Representatives
• California has 53 Representatives plus 2 Senators
• Idaho has 2 Representatives plus 2 Senators
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How the Electoral College Works
• There are 538 total Electors
• Equal to 435 members of the House
• 100 U.S. Senators
• 3 for the District of Columbia (23rd Amendment)
• Must win the majority of the electoral votes (270) to win the presidency
100 Senators
435 Congressional Seats
+ 3 Washington DC
538 Electors
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Is the Electoral College Fair?
• The Electoral College meets a few weeks after the presidential election
• Technically, the electors can vote for anyone
• Throughout the history of presidential elections, some have voted for someone else.
• When all the electoral votes are counted, the candidate with the most votes wins
• Usually the candidate who wins the popular vote also wins in the Electoral College, but not always
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Is the Electoral College Fair?
• In several elections, the candidate with the popular vote has lost the election.
• The Election of 1800: Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson both received 73 electoral votes.
• Went to the House of Representatives to decide.
• Jefferson won
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Is the Electoral College Fair?
• The Election of 1824: When the electoral votes were counted, Jackson had the most, 99, John Q. Adams was second with 84
• But they needed 131 votes to win
• Settled in the House of Representatives
• John Quincy Adams won
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Is the Electoral College Fair?
• The Election of 1876:
• When the popular votes were counted, Tilden had the most, more than 280,000 more than Hayes.
• But he didn't have enough electoral votes to win.
• Tilden had 184, one fewer than what he needed to win.
• It went to the House, where Hayes won.
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Is the Electoral College Fair?
• The Election of 2000:
• Many states were decided by only a handful of votes
• Gore won the popular vote by nearly 540,000 votes
• Bush won the electoral vote 271-266, but ballots in Florida were disputed
• It took nearly 5 weeks to find out who won
• Supreme Court settled a recount issue in Florida, and Bush won
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How Can the President Win the
Popular Vote and Still Lose the
Electoral College?
•The difference in the popular and electoral vote generally
results from one candidate narrowly winning a number of
states with a majority of the electoral votes, while losing
badly in other states.
State Candidate A Candidate B
Popular Vote Electoral Vote Popular Vote Electoral Vote
1 100 1 0 0
2 100 1 0 0
3 40 0 60 1
4 40 0 60 1
5 40 0 60 1
Total 320 2 180 3
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Arguments For the Electoral
College • Gives small states a
larger say; otherwise
they'd be entirely ignored
(also the founders' intent)
• It gives larger states with
larger populations more
voting power
• Prevents “regionalism”
• Provides a framework for
organizing a campaign
• Without it, candidates
wouldn't have a focus like
they do now
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Arguments Against the Electoral
College • The possibility of electing a minority president with the
“Winner Take All system
• The risk of so-called "faithless" Electors
• The possible role of the Electoral College in depressing
voter turnout
• Candidates have no need to campaign in “Safe states” and
spend all their time and money on “Swing states”
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Options to Replace the Electoral College
• Replace the Electoral
College with a simple
DIRECT ELECTION
• One person, one vote
• Would require a candidate
to gain an outright majority
of votes cast (50%+1)
• Have an instant runoff
mechanism to be sure the
leader with majority support
is elected.
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Options to Replace the Electoral
College • Replace the Electoral College
with a PROPORTIONAL ELECTORAL VOTE
• It splits each state’s electoral votes in accordance with their popular vote percentages.
• This way, a candidate who comes in second place in a state with 45% of the popular vote would receive 45% of the electoral votes from that state, instead of 0%.
• Two states already do this (Maine and Nebraska)
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Should We Get Rid of the Electoral
College? • Representative Olson has
been asked to write a bill to
change the Electoral College
• Many people are worried
about the next presidential
election
• Become an informed citizen
• Read more about the pros
and cons of the Electoral
College
• Attend Representative Olson’s
public meeting and tell her
how you stand on the issue