The Electoral College Craig Grimm ED 639

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The Electoral CollegeCraig GrimmED 639
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Electoral College - 12 Grade Government

• 1) What is the Electoral College?
• 2) Why was it created?
• 3) Does it work?

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Indirect v. Direct Voting

• A direct voting system allows citizens to
  actually cast their vote for elected officials.
• EX Local Elections

• An indirect voting system allows citizens to vote
  for a panel who will then cast their vote for an
  elected official.
• EX Electoral College

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What is the Electoral College??

• The Electoral College is a group of
  representatives elected through the popular vote.
• These electors represent individual states in
  electing the President of the United States

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Historical Importance of the Electoral College

• Established in the Constitution of the United
  States in an attempt to create a representative
  voting system.
• Larger states have a larger electoral vote in
  order to maintain a percentage based voting
  system.

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• Did our founding
• fathers have faith that
• the American people would
• make wise decisions when
• electing the President??

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How many Electors for each State?

• Each state has a set number of Electors
  determined by adding the number of Senators (2)
  with the number of Representatives in the House.
• Washington DC has 3. WHY?

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• Ohio has 18 Representatives
• in the House, plus 2
• Senators.
• Ohio has 20
• Electoral College
• votes.

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How are Electors Selected?

• Each candidate selects their own electors for
  each state.
• The candidate who receives the most popular votes
  in a state will win its electors. (Exception
  Maine and Nevada)

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Ohio - 20 Electoral Votes

• George W. Bush - 20 Electors for OH
• Al Gore - 20 Electors for OH
• Ralph Nader - 20 Electors for OH
• Pat Buchanan - 20 Electors for OH

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• The Winner of each state sends only his Electors
  to vote for the President.
• Each set of electors
• meets in their respective
• state capitols to cast
• their vote.

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• The electors meet on the Monday after the 2nd
  Wednesday in December of Presidential election
  years to vote.
• President of the
• Senate (VP) counts
• the official votes.

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Winning in the Electoral College

• There are 538 total electoral college votes.
• A majority of the electoral vote is needed to
  win.
• 270 electoral votes are needed to win.

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Winning in the Electoral College

• If a majority is not won, no candidate is awarded
  the Presidency. The House of Representatives
  will then vote to determine who the winner is.
• Each state has 1 vote, and the reps from that
  state must determine how their state will cast
  their vote.

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DOES THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE WORK ??Vs.
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Problem 1 - Population

• California - 54 Penn. - 23
• New York - 33 Illinois - 22
• Texas - 32 Ohio - 21
• Florida - 25 Mich. - 18
• 8 States 223 Electoral College Votes

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Problem 2 - Small States

• Are less populated states given equal
  representation without the Electoral College?
• Should they be given equal representation?

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What is the SOLUTION?
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Student Related Activities

• 1) Register to Vote - Students will work online
  and visit the sites specific web sites in order
  to register to vote. Each student will complete
  the appropriate form and print an additional copy
  to turn in at the end of class.
• 2) US Constitution Worksheet - Students will use
  this primary document to determine the rights
  guaranteed to various individuals and
  organizations. Students will complete the
  worksheet by listed what Article and what Section
  each statement was originated.

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• Electoral College Map - Each student will
  evaluate the Electoral College map from the 2000
  Presidential Election and answer a series of
  questions regarding its validity, usefulness, and
  their personal opinion of the process.
• Bonus Quiz - Students will attempt to answer VERY
  difficult questions concerning previous
  Presidential Elections. Completion of this
  assignment will take considerable research on the
  part of the students, and each question answered
  correctly will earn that student 1 bonus point.
• Mini Research Project - Each student will prepare
  a 3-5 page research project on one of the 43
  presidents, and will be required to present that
  material to the rest of the class. Each paper
  should include biographical information, success
  and/or failure in the election process, and
  various interesting facts about his Presidency.

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Electoral College Websites

• The Electoral College - http//www.nara.gov/fedreg
  /elctcoll/
• This web site includes interactive maps, charts
  and graphs that will help to develop
  understanding of the Electoral College.
• Why the Electoral College? - http//.yahoo.com/ask
  /20001020.html
• This site answers basic questions about the
  foundation and usefulness of the Electoral
  College. It also shows distributions of
  electoral college votes over the 50 states.

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• Does it Work? - http//www.presidentelect.org/
• This is an excellent site that allows the
  reader to investigate freely the concepts of the
  Electoral College, and ask questions if
  necessary.
• CNN Presidential Coverage - http//www.cnn.electio
  ns.com
• CNN has established a very effective web site
  that deals with the controversial issues of the
  2000 election.
• Electoral College Breakdowns - http//www.state.us
  /electoralvotes.htm
• Maps of both state EC distributions and the
  breakdowns of past Presidential Elections.

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