THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
DEFINITION
A group of people named by each
state legislature to select the
President and Vice President
What do the following four
men all have in common?
•
•
•
•
A. Andrew Jackson
B. Samuel Tilden
C. Grover Cleveland
D. Al Gore
The Answer
• They all won the popular vote in a
Presidential election but did not
become President.
1824
• Popular Vote
Andrew Jackson 43%
John Q. Adams
30.5%
Electoral Vote
Jackson
99 votes
Adams
84
* Adams elected by House of
Representatives when Jackson did
not receive a majority of the Electoral
votes
1876
• Popular Vote
Samuel Tilden
R. B. Hayes
Electoral College
Tilden
Hayes
Winner: Hayes
51%
48%
184
185
1888
• Popular Vote
Grover Cleveland
Benjamin Harrison
Electoral College
Cleveland
Harrison
Winner: Harrison
48.5 %
47.8 %
168
233
2000
• Popular Vote
Albert Gore
George W. Bush
Electoral College
Gore
Bush
Winner: Bush
48.7%
48.5%
266
271
Why?
• We do not pick our President by direct
ballot. We only select electors. These
electors form what is called the Electoral
College and are the people who officially
elect the President.
During the General Election when
casting a ballot for a particular
candidate, voters are actually
voting for a slate of electors.
These electors in turn will vote for
that candidate in the Electoral
College
Why was it Created?
• People (then) were not
knowledgeable enough
to select a President.
(poor communications)
• This was a check that
gave the states a voice
in choosing the
President
• To maintain regional
balance
The Electoral College was devised
for 3 reasons
1.
The framers of the Constitution feared
direct democracy. Hamilton and the other
founders did not trust the population to
make the right choice.
“election should be made by men most
capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to
the station” – James Madison
The Electoral College was devised
for 3 reasons
2.
The founding fathers wanted to protect
the interests of smaller states and rural
areas
The Electoral College was devised
for 3 reasons
3.
The Electoral College helps dilute the
effect of votes from densely populated
centers which may steer away from
the concerns of the rest of the country
Presidential Electors are nominated by their state
political parties in the summer before the Popular
Vote on Election Day
• In some states, the Electors are nominated
in primaries the same way that other
candidates are nominated
• Other states nominate Electors in party
conventions
ELECTORS
The number of electors for each state is based on
# of senators +
# of representatives
Georgia has 16 Electoral votes
All states have a minimum of 3 electoral votes
The party that wins a state elects
its entire slate of Electors.
This is known as a
Winner Take-all System
(2 exceptions: Maine & Nebraska)
The Presidential Electors meet in
their respective state capitols in
December, 41 days following the
election, at which time they cast
their electoral votes. Thus the
"electoral college" never meets as
one national body.
Candidates must receive
a majority of the
electoral vote to be
declared the Presidentelect or Vice-Presidentelect
ELECTORAL VOTES
435 U.S. Representatives
+
100 U.S. Senators
= 535 electoral votes
+ 3 electoral votes (Washington D.C.)
----------------------------------------= 538 total electoral votes
If no candidate for President
receives an absolute electoral
majority 270 votes out of the 538
possible, then the House of
Representatives is required to go
into session immediately to vote for
President.
(an even split would be 269 votes)
The House votes en-bloc by state
for this purpose that is, one vote
per state, which is determined by
the majority decision of the
delegation from that state.
if a state delegation is evenly split
that state is considered as
abstaining.
This vote would be repeated if
necessary until one candidate
receives the votes of more than
half the state delegations—at least
26 state votes, given the current
number, 50, of states in the union.
As of 2006, the House of
Representatives has elected the
President on two occasions, in
1801 (Thomas Jefferson) and in
1825 ( John Quincy Adams).
A faithless elector is one who casts an
electoral vote for someone other than
whom they have pledged to elect. On
158 occasions, electors have cast their
votes for president in a different
manner than that prescribed by the
legislature of the state they represent.
Of those, 71 votes were changed
because the original candidate died
before the elector was able to cast a
vote. Two votes were not cast at all
when electors chose to abstain from
casting their electoral vote for any
candidate. The remaining 85 were
changed by the elector's personal
interest or perhaps by accident.
Since a state's electoral slate is
chosen by the political party,
and electors are usually those
with high loyalty to the party and
its candidate, a faithless elector
runs a greater risk of party
censure than governmental
action
Take 3 minutes…
• With the people in your row, discuss
drawbacks to the electoral college system.
What are the drawbacks to the
Electoral College?
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•
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•
•
Encourages low voter turnout
Diminishes third party influence
Person with most popular votes may not win
Leads to tactical, insincere voting
If there is no majority winner in the Electoral
College, the election goes to the H.o. R and
there is a loss of separation of powers
Why low voter turnout?
• The Electoral College is a winner take all
system of deciding who receives a states
electoral votes. Consequently, if a person
gets 50.1% of the popular vote (in a two
man race), he get 100% of the electoral
votes. Therefore, many people feel that
their vote does not matter and choose to
not vote.
Third Parties
• The Electoral College discourages 3rd
parties because a candidate must have a
broad based, national platform to have a
chance to gain the highest office. Rarely
are 3rd parties financially and politically
able to do this.
Tactical Voting
• Voters often resort to tactical voting in
Presidential elections because the person they
truly support cannot win the all of the electoral
votes. For instance, many people would have
preferred Ralph Nader in the 2000 Presidential
election but knew that he was not going to win.
Instead, they often voted for Al Gore because he
was the major candidate with the platform
closest to Nader.
Electoral Map after the 2004 Election
The 2008 Presidential Election
In-Class Activity
• Given the electoral map on the previous slide,
students will be asked the following hypothetical
question; If you were running for President with
limited money and could only focus on a few
states, where would you focus your campaign?
• (Only 11 states are needed to become
President.)