Electing a President

Agenda for the day 1.Activator: Where are we in the current race for U.S. President 2.Video: How does the electoral college work? 3.Power point and notes: How does the electoral college work 4.Class electoral college simulation-Just for fun- Hillary Clinton v. Donald Trump? 5.Activity: What is the timeline for electing a President? 6.White board review over the electoral college

Where are we in the current election process? *It all usually starts about 1 year before the big election, announcing their candidacy, participating in debates. 1.Iowa Caucus 2.New Hampshire primary 3.“Super Tuesday”- Many states hold their primary elections (selecting the party’s candidate) 4.Accept the nomination at the party’s convention 5.General Election- electoral college Iowa caucus will be held February 1 st - this is a strong indication of how the Midwest feels about the candidates What’s next?

Some key vocabulary you will see today Candidate- person running for an elected office GOP- “Grand Old Party” refers to the Republican party Dem- Democrats Caucus- members of a political party who meet to decide their party’s candidate for president Primary elections- selecting the party’s candidate for President

Explaining the electoral college through video

Class simulation Time The caucuses and primaries are over and we are ready for the general election. We need two candidates: 1 Republican and 1 Democrat We will discuss your platform and hold elections in a few states (color in our map) Blue- candidate A Red- Candidate B

Candidate A 1.Abortion is a woman’s unrestricted right 2.Agrees with same sex marriage 3.We need stricter gun laws to stop crime 4.We need a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens 5.We don’t need to expand the military, use that money of the budget for entitlements Candidate B 1.Abortion should be illegal 2.Same sex marriage should be illegal 3.We need stricter punishments to stop crime 4.We need to deport people who are in this country illegally 5.We need to expand the military to fight groups like ISIS

State by State StateCandidate ACandidate BWho won the state? Texas Ohio California Florida Georgia Total electoral votes

What’s the deal with Nebraska and Maine? Currently, these two states are the only two in the union that diverge from the traditional winner-take-all method of electoral vote allocation. It’s called the Congressional District Method. With the district method, a state divides itself into a number of districts, allocating one of its state-wide electoral votes to each district. The winner of each district is awarded that district’s electoral vote, and the winner of the state-wide vote is then awarded the state’s remaining two electoral votes.

Can a candidate win the popular vote but not the electoral college?

Highlighting key events in the timeline for electing the U.S. President *It all usually starts about 1 year before the big election. 1.Iowa Caucus 2.New Hampshire primary 3.“Super Tuesday”- Many states hold their primary elections (selecting the party’s candidate) 4.Accept the nomination at the party’s convention 5.General Election- Tuesday following the first Monday in November- electoral college 6.The candidate who gets the majority electoral votes becomes the president-elect 7.Electors meet in each state 8.January 20 th The president-elect in sworn into office as the President of the United States

Candidate A Hillary Clinton Candidate B Donald Trump

Review How many electoral votes does the U.S. have? How many electoral votes are needed to win?