Is it democratic?
ELECTORAL COLLEGE
Day #16
Essential Question
HOW DOES THE ELECTION
PROCESS PROMOTE
POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY &
PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF
THE MINORITY?
Electoral College Basics
Popular Vote – the
true vote of the
people as calculated
from the general
election
 Electoral Vote – a
representative vote
from each state
based on the popular
vote; each state’s # of
votes based on
population
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State constitutions
determine how the
electoral votes are
cast
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
Winner Takes All
Congressional District
Winner must reach
269 electoral votes
How do states usually vote?
Democratic Election Process?
Gerrymandering

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Drawing of electoral district lines in a way that gives
advantage to a particular political party.
The practice is named after Massachusetts Gov.
Elbridge Gerry, who submitted to the state senate a
redistricting plan that would have concentrated the
voting strength of the Federalist Party in just a few
districts, thereby giving disproportionate representation
to the Democratic-Republican Party.
Some of Gerry's new districts were necessarily oddshaped; one district's outline, seen to resemble a
salamander, gave rise to the scornful term gerrymander.
Gerrymandering Good?
 The
practice has persisted, and
redistricting battles in state legislatures
have often had to be decided by the
courts.
 In the late 20th and early 21st centuries
so-called "racial gerrymandering," which
aimed to ensure minority representation in
some districts, was a controversial issue in
the U.S.
 http://www.fairvote.org/redistricting
What are the qualifications to be
an elector?

The U.S. Constitution contains very few provisions
relating to the qualifications of electors.


Article II, section 1, clause 2 provides that no Senator or
Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or
Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an
Elector.
As a historical matter, the 14th Amendment provides that
State officials who have engaged in insurrection or
rebellion against the United States or given aid and
comfort to its enemies are disqualified from serving as
electors. This prohibition relates to the post-Civil War era.
Faithless Electors
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The Supreme Court has held that the Constitution does not
require that electors be completely free to act as they
choose and therefore, political parties may extract pledges
from electors to vote for the parties' nominees.
Some State laws provide that so-called "faithless electors"
may be subject to fines or may be disqualified for casting an
invalid vote and be replaced by a substitute elector.
The Supreme Court has not specifically ruled on the
question of whether pledges and penalties for failure to vote
as pledged may be enforced under the Constitution. No
elector has ever been prosecuted for failing to vote as
pledged.
Throughout our history as a nation, more than 99 percent of
electors have voted as pledged.
How could Romney have won?