Decision 2016

FYI: Did you know that when you vote for President on November 8 th you are actually voting for an ELECTOR to vote for you?? This means the people don’t directly elect their president! THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE DECIDES FOR US!!

Breakdown of Electors By State 538 Total Electoral Votes FYI: Washington, DC District of Columbia is not a state but is given 3 electoral votes

A state’s number of electors is the total number of Senators and Representatives Pennsylvania 2 senators + 18 representatives Total 20 electors

48 out of the 50 states have a “Winner Takes All” method If a candidate gets the majority of popular votes in a state then they also get ALL of the electoral votes in that state.

Nebraska and Maine divide up their votes based on congressional district

In Order To Win A candidate must have 270 electoral votes to win the Presidential election

If no single candidate gets the required 270 electoral votes then the House of Representatives votes to decide the President

Did you know?? It is possible to get more popular votes in an election and NOT be elected President It’s happened before! Gore vs Bush

Total Votes in 2000 Election: Bush50,461,092 popular votes (47.9%) 271 Electoral Votes Gore50,994,086 popular votes (48.4%) 266 Electoral Votes Nader2,882,728 popular votes (2.7%) 0 Electoral College Votes

2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Flaws of the Electoral System A strong third party candidate could win enough electoral votes to prevent main candidates from winning a majority of electoral votes. Electors could go against popular vote An unpopular president could be elected