Warm-up: Answer the following question on your warm-up page. How many times have your parents voted for the president?

Warm-up:

Answer the following question on your warm-up page.

How many times have your parents voted for the president?

Review Homework

Flip chart

The Electoral College

Electing a PresidentRead pages 241-244 in the textbook

Presidential Primaries

Primaries are like the semi- finals in a tournament…

The purpose of primaries is to select a candidate for a political party to compete against the other party’s candidate in the General Election (championship game)

Do both Parties have primaries?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no! When one Party has a president sitting in

office and he is running for re-election, that party does not have primaries.

If a president is finishing his second term, both parties will have several candidates trying to become their Party’s nominee to run for president.

Hopefuls announce their intention to run

Begin fundraising and campaigning

Primary election held in each state

Candidates drop out if they are not winning the primaries

The winning candidate for each party is announced at the party

convention in the summer

And the race for the president begins…General Election!

Democrats

Republicans

Current Primaries: Who would you vote for?

Mitt Romney

Newt Gingrich

Rick Santorum

Ron Paul

General Election Day: the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November

On this day our elected representatives are elected by a direct popular vote which means;

The people (electorate) mark their ballots for a candidate on Election Day.

The candidate that receives the majority of the votes (popular vote) wins the election.

EXCEPT: Presidential Elections

The Framers of the Constitution decided that electing the President would be different. They created the Electoral College.

It is a process to select the president and vice president of the US.

Why?????

Feared ignorance and apathy of the people.

However,

more people vote in presidential elections than in state or local elections.

How the Electoral College Works

Prior to the General Election,

1) A slate of electors for each state is chosen by Popular vote

The number of electors each state gets is based on the state’s total congressional representation.

This means the total number of Senators each state has (2) plus the number of members in the House (based on the state’s population)

The ElectorsVIRGINIA

2 Senate11 House of Representatives (based on the number of congressional districts)

13 Total Electors

When do electors vote?

2) After General Election Day, the electors

meet to cast their electoral vote for the president and vice president based on the popular vote winner in their state

NOTE: Since the Electoral College is a process, not a building, the electors meet in their state’s capital and send the ballots to Congress. Congress counts the votes.

School House Rock Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyIFqf3XH24&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=

active

Which candidate won the lowest percentage of the popular vote yet won the electoral vote to become president?

3. The Electoral College is a winner-take-all system which means

Usually the candidate that wins the popular vote in each state gets all of the state’s electoral votes

Winning the Electoral College

100 Senate

435 House

3 Wash. DC

538 TOTAL

However, the electors are NOT the same people who are in Congress

A candidate must win a

majority of the electoral votes

The Magic Number is

http://www.270towin.com/

How is the total of 538 Electoral College votes determined? What is the purpose of the popular vote in the Electoral College system?

Total number electors is one elector for each senator and representative in every state, plus three for the District of Columbia.

The winner of the state’s popular vote receives all the state’s electors.

You would think that presidential candidates would only focus on the larger states that have more electoral votes. However, the candidates must also pay attention to

The smaller states which can become important when their electoral votes may make the difference in close elections

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Election 2000

2000 Election

George Bush

Popular Vote

50,461,092

Electoral Vote

271

Al Gore

Popular Vote

50,994,086

Electoral Vote

266

2000 Election: In which states did each party get a majority? How does that affect campaigns?

Senator Durbin

The requirement for a majority vote to win the Electoral College favors a

two party political system

because third parties cannot win enough popular votes in order to get the electoral votes.

Review Time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaMhTQPy9eE&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

General Election Day: cont. the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November

Voters from each state go to the polls to select their

presidential candidate and his running mate

(popular vote)

The popular vote is counted and a

winner is declared in each state

The winning candidate in each state gets all of the

state's electoral vote . This is called the winner-

take- all system.

In December, the electors meet to cast their state's vote for

president.

There are only 538 electoral vote that decides who will

be president

A candidate must win a majority of the electoral vote in order to win the Electoral College and

become president

A candiate needs at least 270 of the 538 vote in order

to win.

If you were running for President, which states would you want to win?

States that are always competitive among candidates:

California 55 votes New York 33 votes Texas 32 votes Florida 25 votes Pennsylvania 23 votes Illinois 22 votes Ohio 21 votes

Electoral College Trivia

Does winning the popular vote always mean you become president?

NO- winning the popular vote does not always mean you will reach the magic number of

270What happens if no candidate receives a majority of the electoral

votes?

The House of Reps votes Has this ever happened?

Yes, in 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000

Inauguration Day

January 20th

Electoral College Review

Popular Vote

Electoral Vote

HOMEWORK

1. Color in the US map according to instructions.