The Electoral
College
True or False?
In a presidential election, the
candidate with the most votes is
elected president.
Answer: Not
necessarily.
Ask Al Gore
The 2000 Election
The Popular Vote
Al Gore
George W. Bush
50,996,039
50,456,141
The Electoral Vote
George W. Bush
Al Gore
271
267
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
How Does It Work?
Each state is entitled to 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
Pennsylvania: 19 House members plus 2 senators=
21 electoral votes
Total: 435 House members plus 100 senators plus 3
electors for the District of Columbia = 538
electoral votes
Electors




Individuals selected in each state to
officially cast that state’s electoral votes.
Framers anticipated that electors would be
state leaders who would exercise good
judgment.
Today, party leaders select competing
slates of electors who are typically longtime party activists.
Electors almost always vote for their
party’s candidates.
Selection of Electors



Each state determines the manner of
selection
All but two states use a winner-take-all
statewide election system
If Candidate A gets the most votes in a
state, Candidate A gets the whole slate of
electors.
Voters and Electors


A Texan who votes for Obama is
really voting for a slate of electors
pledged to cast the state’s electoral
votes for Obama.
In 2000, Bush won all of Florida’s 25
electoral votes because the final
official vote tally showed him ahead
of Gore by about 600 votes.
The Real Election
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.
What if no one candidate
receives a majority?



To win, a candidate needs a majority,
that is, 270 electoral votes.
If no candidate has a majority, the
House selects the president from
among the three presidential
candidates with the most electoral
votes.
This last happened in 1824 when
Congress chose John Quincy Adams.
Popular Vote v. the Electoral
Vote
In a close race, the popular vote winner may not win
the electoral college.
Electoral vote winners who lost the popular
vote:

Bush over Gore in 2000

Benjamin Harrison over Grover Cleveland in 1888

Rutherford B. Hayes over Samuel Tilden in 1876
How does this affect elections?
For a candidate to become president, he
or she must win enough states to garner
a majority of electoral votes.
Presidential campaigns, therefore, focus
on winning states, not on winning a
national majority.