Why an Electoral College? The Founding Fathers felt an EC was necessary for a few reasons: Feared citizens could not make a wise choice because they knew little about leaders Congress choosing the President would violate the idea of separation of powers

Step 1: Popular Vote On election day, voters choose who they want to be President & Vice President What we’re actually choosing are ELECTORS who represent the political party of the candidate we like These electors are then supposed to vote for the candidate that wins the popular vote in a given state

Step 2: “Winner Take All” The EC system is “winner take all.” Candidate with the most popular votes gets ALL of the electoral votes except in Maine and Nebraska Electoral votes can be divided

Step 3: Counting the Votes The electors then meet in the State capitol to cast votes for the candidate they represent (Monday after the 2nd Wednesday in December). Those votes are then sent to the president of the Senate in DC The president of the Senate counts the votes on January 6 (this is done before Congress)

Step 3a: What if There Is A Tie (or if no one wins)? If no Presidential candidate gets 270 electoral votes, the US House of Representatives takes a vote to determine the winner happened in 1800 & 1824) Richard M Johnson

Flaws of the Electoral College

#1: It’s possible to win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote 1824 Andrew Jackson (41.3% of the popular votes, John Quincy Adams 30.9% of the popular vote) Jackson received 99 of 261 electoral votes more than any other candidate but not enough to win

1876 Samuel J. Tilden Rutherford B Hayes 4,288,546 popular votes 184 electoral votes Rutherford B Hayes 4,034,311 popular votes 185 electoral votes

1888 Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison 5,534,488 popular votes 168 electoral votes Benjamin Harrison 5,443,892 popular votes 233 electoral votes

2000 Al Gore George W Bush 50,992,335 popular votes 266 electoral votes George W Bush 50,455,156 (537,179 votes less) 271 electoral votes Florida was decided by only 537 votes!

#3: The contest could be decided by the House Problem: The voting is not done by members of the House but by state. Why is that a problem? A state could lose its votes if no candidate received a majority If a 3rd party candidate were involved, the vote could be divided and no one would be declared winner by January 20

Argument for Federalism How does the EC keep the concept of Federalism true in the American presidential election?