The Electoral College H. FRY 2014
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.
History of the Electoral College 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 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 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
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
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 (23 rd Amendment) Must win the majority of the electoral votes (270) to win the presidency 100 Senators 435 Congressional Seats + 3 Washington DC 538 Electors
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
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
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
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.
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
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
Arguments For the Electoral 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 College
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
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.
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)
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