Electoral college 2014

1. The Electoral College

2. True or False?
The candidate with the most votes is
elected president.
Answer: Not necessarily. Ask Al Gore.

3. Why an Electoral College?
• The Founding Fathers felt an EC was
necessary for a few reasons:
• They questioned whether the voters were
capable of selecting an adequate leader
for the nation  if the people chose the
“wrong” President, the EC could override
the vote.

4. Historical Background
• The framers of the Constitution
disagreed on how to elect a president—
congressional selection or direct popular
election.
• The electoral college was a compromise,
combining features of both approaches.

5. Why an Electoral College?
• Voters had very little knowledge of candidates
outside of their local area or state voting
was based primarily on REGION

6. The Electoral College and Federalism
The electoral college also reflects the federal
nature of the Constitution because it ensures
that the states have a role in selecting the
president.

7. Step 1: Popular Vote
• On election day, voters choose who they
want to be President & Vice President
• What we’re actually choosing are
ELECTORS who represent the political
party of the candidate we like
• These electors are then supposed to vote
for the candidate that wins the popular vote
in a given state

8. State Electoral Votes
Each state gets as many electoral votes as the sum
of its representation in the U.S. House and Senate
Texas: 32 House members plus 2 senators = 34
electoral votes
Connecticut: 5 House members plus 2 senators = 7
electoral votes
Total: 435 House members plus 100 senators
plus 3 electors for the District of Columbia
= 438 electoral votes

9. Step 2: “Winner Take All”
• The EC system is “winner take all.”
• That is, the candidate with the most
popular votes gets ALL of the electoral
votes (except in Maine and Nebraska
where the electoral votes can be divided)

10. Step 3: Counting the Votes
• The electors then meet in
the State capitol to cast
votes for the candidate
they represent (Monday
after the 2nd
Wednesday in
December).
• Those votes are then sent
to the president of the
Senate in DC
• The president of the
Senate counts the votes
on January 6 (this is done
before Congress)

11. What if There Is A Tie
(or if no one wins)?
• If no Presidential candidate gets 270
electoral votes, the US House of
Representatives takes a vote to
determine the winner (this happened in
1800 & 1824)
• If no Vice Presidential candidates
receives enough votes to win, the
Senate takes a vote to decide who the
winner is (this happened in 1837).
Richard M Johnson

12. Criticisms of the Electoral College
• The popular vote winner may lose the
presidency.
• Electors may vote for persons other than
their party’s presidential and vice
presidential candidates.
• If no candidate receives a majority,
Congress will pick the president and vice
president.

13. Political Legitimacy
Political legitimacy is the popular
acceptance of a government and its
officials as rightful authorities in the
exercise of power.

14. Political Legitimacy and the Electoral College
The proponents of the electoral college
believe that it conveys legitimacy to
the winner in most closely fought
presidential elections. For example,
Bill Clinton won 69 percent of the
electoral vote in 1992 despite capturing
only 43 percent of the popular vote.
The electoral college gave Clinton the
appearance of the majority support
necessary to be an effective president.

15. Flaws of the Electoral College

16. #1: It’s possible to win the popular
vote but lose the electoral vote
• 1824 Andrew Jackson (41.3% of the
popular votes, John Quincy Adams 30.9%
of the popular vote)
– Jackson received 99 of 261 electoral votes
more than any other candidate but not
enough to win

18. 1876
• Samuel J. Tilden
– 4,288,546 popular votes
– 184 electoral votes
• Rutherford B Hayes
– 4,034,311 popular votes
– 185 electoral votes

20. 1888
• Grover Cleveland
– 5,534,488 popular votes
– 168 electoral votes
• Benjamin Harrison
– 5,443,892 popular votes
– 233 electoral votes

22. 2000
• Al Gore
– 50,992,335 popular votes
– 266 electoral votes
• George W Bush
– 50,455,156 (537,179 votes
less)
– 271 electoral votes
• Florida was decided by
only 537 votes!

25. #2: Electors Don’t Have to Do What
We Tell Them To
• Electors have refused to vote for their party’s nominee
– 1796
– 1820
– 1948
– 1956
– 1960
– 1968
– 1972
– 1976
– 1988
– 2000
– 2004 an elector from MN voted for John Edwards (twice, Pres
& VP)

26. The contest could be decided by
the House
• Problem: The voting is not done by
members of the House but by state.
• Why is that a problem?
• A state could lose its votes if no candidate
received a majority
• If a 3rd
party candidate were involved, the
vote could be divided and no one would
be declared winner by January 20

27. Proposals for Reform
• Eliminate electors but still count electoral
votes.
• Select electors based on the proportion of
the vote each candidate gets in each state.
• Select electors by congressional districts
with two electors chosen at large in each
state.
• Choose the president by direct popular
election.

28. Will Reform Happen?
• Amending the Constitution is not easy.
• Small states would be opposed to reform
because they benefit from the current
system.
• Groups that are concentrated in states with
large numbers of electoral votes (such as
Cuban Americans, Jewish Americans, urban
residents, etc.) would be opposed to reform
because it would diminish their influence.