The Electoral College HOW IS THE PRESIDENT ELECTED?

The Electoral CollegeHOW IS THE PRESIDENT ELECTED?

History of the Electoral College

The Electoral College was established in the Constitution, Article II, Section I.

The Electoral College was a compromise worked out during the Constitutional Constitutional ConventionConvention of 1787 that allowed small and large states, and Federalists and Anti-Federalists to feel that their interests were being met.

History of the Electoral College

The Electoral College placed power in the hands of the states by allowing state delegates to choose the president.

The Electoral College shows the Founding Fathers' distrust of popular sovereignty.

Electoral college votes Electoral college votes today:today:

Today there are 538538 electoral votes:House of Representatives = 435 US Senate = 100 District of Columbia = + 3

538

Electoral votes needed to become President:

A candidate must win 270270 or more electoral votes out of or more electoral votes out of 538538 in a presidential election in order to win.

http://www.270towin.com/

http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/ratings/electoral-map

http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/results/president

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/whos-ahead/key-states/map.html

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/politics/2004_ELECTIONGUIDE_GRAPHIC/

What if no candidate receives 270 or more electoral votes?

If no candidate receives 270 or more votes (more than two candidates or a tie) the House of RepresentativesHouse of Representatives decides who will be the next President.

Each state would receive 1 vote decided upon by the state’s US House of Representatives.

The candidate who gets the most votes is then elected President and the Senate votes to choose the Vice President in the same way.

How are electoral votes distributed?

Each state has a certain number of electoral votes.

If you add the number of Senators and Representatives of a state (congressional representation) you get the number of electoral votes that state is apportioned (given).

For example:

In the U.S. Congress, Maryland has 2 Senators and 8 Representatives (in the House of Reps)

2 Senators + 8 Representatives = 10 electors

State: Maryland

Electoral Votes of Other States

State# of

Senators

+# of Reps

=Electoral

Votes

California

2 + 53 = 55

Maryland

2 + 8 = 10

Ohio 2 + 16 = 18

Wyoming

2 + 1 = 3

Alabama 9 Louisiana 8 Ohio 18

Alaska 3 Maine 4 Oklahoma 7

Arizona 11 Maryland 10 Oregon 7

Arkansas 6 Massachusetts 11 Pennsylvania 20

California 55 Michigan 16 Rhode Island 4

Colorado 9 Minnesota 10 South Carolina 9

Connecticut 7 Mississippi 6 South Dakota 3

Delaware 3 Missouri 10 Tennessee 11

Florida 29 Montana 3 Texas 38

Georgia 16 Nebraska 5 Utah 6

Hawaii 4 Nevada 6 Vermont 3

Idaho 4 New Hampshire 4 Virginia 13

Illinois 20 New Jersey 14 Washington 12

Indiana 11 New Mexico 5 West Virginia 5

Iowa 6 New York 29 Wisconsin 10

Kansas 6 North Carolina 15 Wyoming 3

Kentucky 8 North Dakota 3 District of Columbia 3From 2012 Election

The US Census & ReapportionmentReapportionment

Every 10 years10 years the US Census Bureau records the population of the US.

Congress uses this data to reapportion seats to the House of Reps.

ReapportionmentReapportionment is the process of Congress dividing the 435 seats in the House of Reps among the 50 states.

Redistricting

After the 435 House of Representative seats are divided among all 50 states, the state legislatures are responsible for redrawing (redistricting) the new House of Representative district boundaries.

RedistrictingOur state legislature, the Maryland General Assembly, must draw new boundaries for each of Maryland’s eight House districts and the Governor must approve of the new boundaries.

Checks and balances are used to make sure that no one party has total control over drawing legislative districts unless the people of that state only vote for one party.

Redistricting in Maryland

Maryland currently is apportioned (given) 8 members of the House of Representatives and 2 US Senators.

In 2010, the General Assembly was given the opportunity to redistrict the boundaries of the House of Representative districts. At that time the Governor was a Democrat and the General Assembly was dominated by Democrats.

As a result, the district boundaries were drawn in a way that favored Democrats.

Redistricting in Maryland resulted in 1 Republican (Roscoe Bartlett) being voted out of office and replaced by a Democrat in the 2012 election.

More on Redistricting

Redistricting in Maryland

From the 2000 census, if you look closely you will notice that District 8’s boundaries were changed to include Leisure World, downtown Silver Spring and Takoma Park, all areas where over 75% of the residents vote for Democrats.

Also, much of northern Montgomery County, an area where much more evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans was added to District 4. As a result, the Republican incumbent, Connie Morella of District 8 lost her seat to the Democrat Chris Van Hollen in 2002.

Van Hollen’s victory is largely due to the fact that Democrats controlled both the Governor’s office and the General Assembly during the redistricting process that takes place every 10 years. Morella charged that the district boundaries had been gerrymandered but lost the case.

GerrymanderingGerrymandering describes how Congressional districts are drawn to favor one party over another.

Gerrymandering a district based on race is illegal, but all other forms of gerrymandering done during the redistricting process are legal.

Gerrymandering

The Congressional district below was drawn to make sure that a Democrat won it. If you look

closely it contains many different cities that have little in common like Annapolis, Baltimore

and Columbia, MD.

Answer the following questions

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

Based on the following information who was elected President of the United States?

19. In 2000 George W. Bush and Richard Cheney received 271 Electoral Votes and 50,456,062 popular votes

Albert Gore, Jr. and Joseph Lieberman received 266 Electoral Votes and 50,996,582 popular votes

Who won the election? Why?

20. 1824 Election Results (271 Electoral College Votes Available)

John Quincy Adams- 30.9% of the vote and 99 electoral votes

Andrew Jackson-41% and 84

William Crawford- 15% and 41

Henry Clay-12.9% and 37

Who decided who won? Who won?

More Electoral College Questions

21. In 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes received 4,036,572 and won 185 votes

Samuel Tilden received 4,284,020 votes and won 184 votes

Who won? Why?

22. In 2008 if Hillary Clinton receives 200 electoral votes and Rudy Guiliani receives 220 and the third candidate receives 18 electoral votes? Who will decide who is the next president?

23. For more information about the Electoral College Check out the following sites

Arguments For and Against the Electoral College

Past Electoral College Results