The Electoral College System The process in which the President of the United States is elected

“ Do now ” Activity Should the President of the United States be elected through the majority vote by his or her fellow citizens? Why or why not?

Presidential Election Occurs once every four years President can only serve two consecutive terms; once this occurs, he or she can no longer be nominated for president Contest between Republican and Democratic Candidate Third Party candidates often run as Independents Popular Vote – a percentage that reflects the most votes given to a presidential candidate by registered voters in a presidential election Does not determine who wins presidency

The Electoral College The candidate who wins the popular vote in a state wins the pledged votes of the state ’ s electors Each state gets a number of electors equal to its number of members in the U.S. House of Representatives and one additional elector for its two U.S. Senators The district of Columbia, the capital of the United States, gets three electors

The Electoral College Con ’ t Each elector gets one vote State of PA has 20 electors (19 members in the House of Rep. And 2 State Senators) Currently 538 electors that make up the Electoral College A presidential candidate is required to win a majority of electors = 270 Primarily based on representation in House of Representatives States with larger populations, like California (55), Texas (38), Florida (29), and New York (29), have more electors

12 th Amendment If no one wins majority (270) of electors, the House of Representatives decides election Each Representative gets one vote Majority of votes needed to win Has occurred twice Thomas Jefferson (DR) v John Adams (F) (1801) John Quincy Adams (DR) v Andrew Jackson (DR) v William Crawford (DR) v Henry Clay (DR) (1825)

Official Day a Winner is Picked A candidate is usually assumed as the winner by midnight on election day Winner undecided until the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December Electors meet in their state capitals to cast vote; this process determines the winner This is the process due to travel time / lack of modern transportation in the 1800s

Critics of Electoral College Critics point to the problem that a candidate could still win the presidency despite losing the popular vote due to the Electoral College It is mathematically possibly for a president to not register a vote in 39 smaller states and Dist. Of Columbia and still become elected president

Example: 2012 Election Barack Obama Democrat Loses Popular Vote Wins CA (55), TX (38), NY (29), FL (29), PA (20), IL (20), OH (18), MI (16), NJ (14), NC (15), GA (16), VA (13) = 283 electoral votes Wins election Mitt Romney Republican Wins Popular Vote Wins remaining 39 states plus the district of Columbia = 255 electoral votes Loses election

Has This Happened? 3 times: Rutherford B Hayes (R) v Samuel J. Tilden (D) (1876) Benjamin Harrison (R) v Grover Cleveland (D) (1888) George W. Bush (R) v Al Gore (D) (2000)

Why was the Electoral College Created? Framers of the Constitution wanted people to have direct input for electing the president Saw this in two ways: (1) direct popular election (2) election by congress Feared popular election No organized parties or structure to choose/ limit number of candidates Also, lack of travel and communication; candidate could be popular in one region and unknown in another

Reason for Electoral College Con ’ t Election by Congress required members to address interests of people on their states and vote for themselves Would lead to elections that reflected opinions of Congress and not the people Electoral College System is a compromise between a direct popular election and an election by Congress

Your Opinion Are you in favor of the Electoral College? If you are or are not in favor of the Electoral College, please explain why.