MR. HALEY
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
NAME_____________________________________
ELECTORAL COLLEGE WORKSHEET
OBJECTIVES: The students will be able to:
1.) Develop an understanding of the Electoral College and identify key Presidential Elections
throughout modern US history.
Task: The students will use the website below to answer the following questions.
www.270towin.com
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How many total Electoral College Votes are there in the USA?
How many Electoral College votes are assigned to each state?
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How are Electoral College votes in a Presidential Election allocated? (How many EC votes does
each candidate get in a state?)
GO TO HOME PAGE OF 270 TO WIN:
1.) How many Electoral College Votes do you need to win the White House?
2.) How many Electoral College Votes does Pennsylvania have today?
3.) How many Electoral College votes did Pennsylvania have in 1920? (Go back to the
elections in the 20s)
4.) Which 3 states have the most Electoral College votes?
5.) How many small states would you need to win in order to make up for losing California?
6.) How many Electoral College Votes did Barack Obama get in 2008? In 2012?
7.) Look at Election 2000. Who won the popular vote? Who won the EC vote and became
President?
8.) In the last 100 years, which Election was the most lopsided victory? Give me the
President and the EC vote totals.
9.) When was the last election that a 3rd party candidate (other than Dem or Rep) won a
significant number of states (more than 1)?
10.) GO TO “STATES” THEN TO “VOTING HISTORY AND TRENDS” AND THEN TO
PENNSYLVANIA – How does Pa usually vote in a Presidential Election?
11.) Go to “MAPS” AND THEN TO “GAMING THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE”. Read
the background and the directions. Then look to see how PA EC results would have
changed if an alternative method was used instead of winner take all in allocating EC
votes. How would PA have changed in the alternative methods?
CDP Method –
CDM Method –
PPV Method -
PLEASE NOTE THAT PA HAS CORRECTLY SIDED WITH THE WINNER IN THE LAST 10
ELECTIONS! WAY TO BRING IT QUAKERS!