Aim: To what extent does the electoral college meet the objectives envisioned by the Framers of the Constitution?

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Aim To what extent does the electoral college
meet the objectives envisioned by the Framers of
the Constitution?
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The Electoral College

• "Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the
  Legislature thereof may direct, a number of
  electors, equal to the whole number of Senators
  and Representatives to which the State may be
  entitled in the Congress."

Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution
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Number of Electoral Votes

• of Representatives in the House of Senators
  in the Senate
• For Example
• New York has 29 members in the House of
  Representatives, and 2 Senators (as do all
  states).
• 29
• 2
• 31 Electoral Votes

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How Electors Are Chosen

• In each state, the political party chooses a
  number of electors equal to that states number
  of electoral votes.
• For Example
• In New York State
• The Democrats choose 31 Electors who promise to
  vote for the Democratic candidate
• The Republicans choose 31 Electors who promise to
  vote for the Republican candidate
• The Libertarian Party chooses 31 Electors who
  promise to vote for the Libertarian candidate
• And so on

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Electoral College Map
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Therefore

• When you vote on Election Day, you are not voting
  for the Presidential candidate
• You are voting for the political party who has
  nominated the Candidate that you want to be
  President.
• For Example
• New York has 11,200,000 registered voters
• In the 2000 Election
• Democratic Party Al Gore 4,107,697
• Republican Party George W. Bush 2,403,374
• Green Party Ralph Nader 244,030
• Reform Party Pat Buchanan 31,599

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Thus

• The Democrats received the majority of the
  popular vote in New York
• The 33 Electors chosen by the Democratic Party
  in New York cast their ballots for Al Gore.
• It works like this in each state.
• The Number of Electoral Votes in New York has
  changed to 31

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How to Win

• To win the election, a candidate must receive a
  majority of the Electoral Vote.
• Currently 270 of the 538 total Electoral Votes.
• If no one candidate wins a majority (i.e. there
  are too many candidates that split the vote), or
  if there is a tie, the vote goes to the House of
  Representatives, who will then elect the
  President.

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What did the Framers intend?

• When the Constitution was established, The
  Framers felt that choosing the President by
  popular vote would cause too much controversy
• The people were too widely scattered to make
  informed decisions
• The people would be loyal to local interests, and
  would not make decisions in the best interests of
  the nation
• In short, the Framers did not trust the people to
  vote directly for President
• The Framers intended that the electors from each
  state would be the most enlightened and
  respectable citizens, and they would act as
  free agents.

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Faithless Electors

• Throughout American History, there have been 156
  Faithless Electors - Electors who did not vote
  for whom they were supposed to

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Popular Vote vs. Electoral Vote

• It is possible for a candidate to receive a
  majority of the popular vote and still lose the
  election in the Electoral College.
• Densely populated states may swing the popular
  vote in favor of the candidate who does not
  receive an electoral majority.
• For Example
• California has a population of 36,132,147 and 55
  Electoral Votes.
• If a candidate receives a majority of the votes
  in California, they get 55 Electoral Votes,
  regardless of how many people actually voted.
• If 20,000,000 people in California all vote for
  one candidate, he gets 55 Electoral Votes
• If 10,000,000 people in California all vote for
  one candidate, he gets 55 Electoral votes

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U.S. Population Density
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2000 Election By State
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2012 Election by State
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Questions

• What didnt the Framers envision happening soon
  after George Washington left office?
• Do you feel that the Electoral College is
  Democratic? Why or why not?
• What advantages can you see to having the
  Electoral College?

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• Aim What controversies has the electoral college
  caused?

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Political Parties Complicate the Issue

• Originally, each elector was to cast two ballots
  for President.
• The candidate who came in first would be
  President, the candidate who came in second would
  be Vice President.

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The Election of 1796

• John Adams (Federalist Party) was elected
  President, and his arch rival Thomas Jefferson
  (Democratic-Republican Party) was elected Vice
  President.

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The Election of 1800

• Things got worse.
• The Electors voted for their partys nominees for
  President and Vice President, but each vote
  counted as a vote for President
• Thus, Thomas Jefferson, the Presidential
  Candidate, and Aaron Burr, Jeffersons running
  mate, received a tie in the Electoral College.
• The House of Representatives soon after elected
  Jefferson as President and Burr as Vice President

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More Controversies

• The 12th Amendment fixed the problems of the
  previous elections by requiring that electors
  vote specifically for President and Vice
  President.
• This did not eliminate the possibility of
  Electoral controversies.

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The Election of 1824

• The contenders were Andrew Jackson and John
  Quincy Adams, plus two other candidates.
• No single candidate received a majority in the
  Electoral College, although Jackson won the
  popular vote.
• The election went to the House of
  Representatives, who elected John Quincy Adams.
• Adams then named Henry Clay, the Speaker of the
  House, as Secretary of State.
• Jackson supporters complained of a corrupt
  bargain.
• Jackson was elected President in 1828 and 1832.

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Election of 1860

• Abraham Lincoln won the election with a clear
  majority of 180 electoral votes.
• The nearest candidate, John Breckenridge won 72
  electoral votes.
• In third came, John Bell's Constitutional Union
  party with 39 votes.
• Stephen Douglas came in fourth with 12 electoral
  votes.
• South Carolina immediately seceded upon Lincoln's
  victory.
• No Southern States had voted for Lincoln, and
  they therefore did not consider him their
  President.

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The Election of 1876

• After the Civil War, the Southern States were
  still under military occupation by the Union
  during Reconstruction.
• The election was between Rutherford B. Hayes (R)
  and Samuel J. Tilden (D).
• There were disputed electoral returns from
  several Southern States.
• Tilden had 184 of the 185 Electoral votes needed,
  and a majority of the popular vote.
• the election was not won until the Southern
  returns could be figured out.
• The Electoral Count Act of 1877 created a special
  panel to sort out the controversy
• Hayes was elected President in return for
  removing Union troops from the Southern States
• Reconstruction was officially ended here, and the
  freed slaves were left to the mercy of Southern
  racists.

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The Election of 1888

• Benjamin Harrison won 233 Electoral Votes
• Grover Cleveland received 168 Electoral Votes
• In the popular vote, Cleveland had 5, 537, 857 to
  Harrisons 5, 447, 129.

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The Election of 2000

• Al Gore received a majority of the popular vote
  with 51,003,926
• George W. Bush received 50,460,110 popular votes.
• However, after contested results in Florida, and
  various ballot controversies, George W. Bush was
  elected President with 271 Electoral votes to
  Gores 266.

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In Florida

• The 25 Electoral Votes in Florida were needed by
  each candidate to win the election.
• If Gore won Florida, he would win the election
• If Bush won Florida, he would win the election
• The vote in Florida was too close to call.

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That didnt stop the Media

• In an effort to be the first to report, the news
  media prematurely named both Bush and Gore as
  winners at different times.
• The news media also incorrectly reported that the
  polls in Florida were closed, when they were
  still open.

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Ballot Controversies
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Photo of Palm Beach Ballot
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Punch Card Ballots
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Hanging Chad Were Often Disqualified
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Examining The Hanging Chad
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Overvotes
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Voter Scrubbing

• Names of eligible voters were scrubbed or
  eliminated from voter lists because they were
  determined to be convicted felons.
• In 1999, the rules for eliminating convicted
  felons from voter lists were relaxed, making it
  easier to eliminate names that closely resembled
  the names of convicted felons.
• Many minority voters were disenfranchised as a
  result of this process

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Jeb Bush

• As Governor of Florida, many have accused George
  W. Bushs brother Jeb, of using his influence to
  give Bush an advantage in Florida.

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Florida Recount

• Gore requested a manual recount in four counties
  in Florida.
• The recount was controversial because of the
  length of time it would take to complete it, as
  well as which votes should be counted in certain
  circumstances (hanging chad, overvotes).
• In the Supreme Court case Bush v. Gore (2000)
  In a vote of 5-4, the Supreme Court halted the
  Florida recount, with Bush in a 537 vote lead.

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• The 5 conservative justices sided with Bush,
  while the 4 liberal justices sided with Gore.
• People argued that the election was in effect
  decided by the Supreme Court, and not by the
  people

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The Election Ends

• Bush received Floridas 25 Electoral Votes, and
  was declared the winner.

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• Al Gore went on to grow a beard and focus on
  global warming.
• He later won an Academy Award for a PowerPoint
  presentation on the subject.

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Conclusion

• What should have been done in the 2000 Election?
  Come up with a solution and predict an outcome.
• Which was the worst incident of election
  controversy in American History? Explain.
• What can be done to prevent election
  controversies in the future?