1. Electoral College
Chapter 10

2. Clicker Question
Are you Here?
a. Yes
b. No

3. Clicker Question
Which would you prefer – to amend the
constitution so that the candidate who receives
the most total votes nationwide wins the
election, or to keep the current system, in
which the candidate who wins the most votes
in the Electoral College wins the election?
a. Amend
b. Current

4. Clicker Question

5. Clicker Question
Which step comes last?
a. Reapportionment
b. Census
c. Redistricting

6. Clicker Question
Which step comes first?
a. Reapportionment
b. Census
c. Redistricting

7. Clicker Question
Which step comes second?
a. Reapportionment
b. Census
c. Redistricting

8. Clicker Question
The number of a state’s electoral votes is
determined by
a. Number of members in the House of Representatives
b. Percentage of registered voted that voted during the
last election.
c. Number of members it has in both chambers of
Congress.
d. state’s proportionate share of the overall national
population

9. Clicker Question
In the 2000 presidential race, George
Bush won Missouri 50 percent to 47
percent. How many of Missouri's
eleven electoral votes did Bush get in
2000?
a)six
b)seven
c)nine
d)eleven

10. The Electoral College
Electoral College Important Numbers
55
3 House + Senate + 3
Article II

11. The Electoral College
Why do we have the Electoral College?
Options for Electing a President
1. Indirectly By “Experts” –
Let Congress or State Legislatures
choose the President.
REJECTED! – NOT ENOUGH DEMOCRACY
2. Directly by Citizens – Let citizens vote directly for the president.
REJECTED! – NOT ENOUGH QUALITY
Solution: Involve both “Experts” and Citizens.
Legitimacy and Quality

12. How does the System Work? (OVERVIEW)
1. Prior to election day, each party within a state chooses a
slate of electors that are important figures within their political
party.
2. On Election Day, we vote for a party’s slate of electors that
have pledged to vote for the presidential candidate we prefer.
3. The Popular Vote is then CONVERTED into the Electoral Vote.
(Maine and Nebraska are Different)
4. In December, the electors gather in their respective state
capitols to cast ballots for president and vice president.
In January, Congress convenes, opens the ballots received from
each state, and announces the official outcome.

13. The Electoral College
How does the System Work?
1. Prior to election day, each party within a state chooses a slate of
electors that are important figures within their political party.
Required to Pledge? Not in Georgia…
26 States and the District of Columbia (3) have
some form of law or binding pledge to vote for the
candidate with which they are affiliated.
Georgia, however, does not.
“Faithless Electors”
•Electors who do not vote for their party’s designated candidate.
•Since the founding of the Electoral College, there have been 156 faithless Electors.
•71 of these votes were changed because the original candidate died before the day on
which the Electoral College cast their votes.
•Three of the votes were not cast at all as three Electors chose to abstain from casting their
Electoral vote for any candidate.
•The other 82 Electoral votes were changed on the personal initiative of the Elector.

14. The Electors…
Number Given to Each State =
Size of Congressional Delegation
GEORGIA, with 14 House districts, has 16
Electoral College votes.
(Remember, you add 2 for the Senate)
Largest State = California with 55 electors
Smallest States = 7 states +D.C. have 3 electors
How are they Chosen?
•Electors are typically long-time
party activists who are selected by
their state party organization as a
reward for their loyalty to the party.

15. The Electoral College
The Electoral College
All the electors from ALL of the states make up the Electoral College
•The Electoral College consists of 538 members
435 (House) + 100 (Senate) + 3 (D.C.)
= 538
CONSTITUTIONALLY, to win a presidential election, a candidate
must receive a MAJORITY of the Electoral Vote.
538/2 = 269 (Majority = 270)

16. 2. On Election Day, we vote for a party’s slate of electors that have
pledged to vote for the presidential candidate we prefer.
This is the
POPULAR
VOTE

17. The Electoral College
3. The Popular Vote is then CONVERTED into the
Electoral Vote.
How’d that
happen?

18. The Electoral College
From Popular Vote to Electoral Vote
48 states award electors based on the
Winner-Take-All System.
Thus, 50% +1 Vote = 100% of Electors
Popular Vote (National = 53% to 46% Obama)
In the 2008 election, 52% of Georgia voters chose McCain while 47%
of Georgia voters chose Obama.
Electoral Vote (National = 68% to 32% Obama)
ALL 15 of Georgia’s electoral college seats were then awarded to
John McCain.

19. The Electoral College
Maine (4) and Nebraska (5)
Maine and Nebraska award
electors through a more
proportional process.
HOW? Each state selects electors at the congressional
district level and then awards the 2 “extra” electors to the
statewide popular vote winner.

20. Clicker Question
What do you think about the Nebraska/
Maine system?
a)I love it, lets do it!
b)Might Work here.
c)No way, never!

21. 2008 Electoral College Vote The Electoral College
What’s misleading about this map? Hint: Should McCain have won?

22. 2008 Electoral College Vote
(Scaled to # of Electoral College Votes)

23. 2000 – Bush vs. Gore
So, how is it possible that Al Gore won the
popular vote (by almost 544k votes) and
yet lost the electoral college vote
(271 to 266)?
A Winner-Take-All system means that any extra votes (those beyond
what is necessary to win) are “SURPLUS” in the sense that they do not
affect the winner’s electoral vote result for that state.
Example: Gore only needed 3.2M votes to win New York but he
received 4.1M…That’s 900,000 “extra” votes that increased his
popular vote total but did not change his electoral vote total.

24. Clicker Question
Had the entire country used the
Nebraska/ Maine system in 2000, Al
Gore would have been president.
a) TRUE
b) FALSE

25. The Electoral College
Concerns about the Electoral College
1. Does everyone’s vote count the same?
Wyoming – 71,242 votes per elector
California – 199,378 votes per elector
2. How does this process affect voter turnout?
Battleground States vs. Safe States
3. Reinforces 2-party system
Democracy = Choice

26. Number of Presidential Candidate Visits
(September 26th to November 2nd, 2004)

27. Advertising Money Spent ($ =1 million)
(September 26th to November 2nd, 2004)

28. The Electoral College
Other Ways?
Congressional District Approach?
We could all change to the Maine/Nebraska model – Strangely, if this
had been done in 2000, Bush would have won by a larger electoral
margin (Small states tend to be Republican + large states like CA and
NY would be split)
Proportional Voting?
In 2008, Georgia would have awarded 8 electors to McCain and 7
electors to Obama.
Had this been used in 2008 (in TX, CA, GA, FL, OH, PA, and WI), McCain
would have picked up an additional 45 electoral college votes.

29. Georgia 2008
Had Georgia used the Maine approach, Obama would have picked
up between 3 and 5 of our electoral college votes.

30. Clicker Question
What does the Constitution require to be
elected President?
a. A Plurality of the Popular Vote
b. A Majority of the Electoral Vote
c. A Plurality of the Electoral Vote
d. A Majority of the Popular Vote

31. Clicker Question
Would you approve or disapprove of an
amendment to the Constitution which would
do away with the electoral college and base
the election of a President on the total vote
cast throughout the nation?
a. YES
b. NO

32. Historical Support
APPROVE DISAPPROVE NO OPINION
June 1944 65% 23% 13%
January 1977 73% 15% 12%
Nov. 1980 67% 19% 15%
June 2008 74% 21% 5%