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The Road to the White House Page 47 Lesson 18 The Road to the White House

How is the power of the Executive Branch maintained AND transferred? Lesson 18: The Road to the White House L 46 WARM-UP List the different ways a person MAY become the President of the United States. List the different ways the office of the Presidency MAY become vacant. ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How is the power of the Executive Branch maintained AND transferred?

Lesson 18: The Road to the White House 47 R LEARNING TARGETS: I can list the main two ways a person may become the President of the United States. I can explain the Electoral College’s role in selecting the President. I can explain the process of presidential succession. Key Vocabulary to add to Flashcard List (35-37) VOCAB popular vote electoral vote presidential succession

How to Reach the White House Lesson 18: The Road to the White House 47 R CLASS NOTES How to Reach the White House Elected to the office of the President How are you REALLY elected to the Presidency? The oldest was Ronald Reagan, who was elected at age 77. Youngest “elected” was John F. Kennedy, who was 43 years old, BUT the youngest person ever to be the president was Theodore Roosevelt. What are the Qualifications to be the President? How many presidents have we had? We have had 44 presidencies with 43 people being sworn in as president. The youngest person to be president? The oldest person to be president?

Attach the Reading on “Could You Win the Election and Lose?” Lesson 18: The Road to the White House L 48 Imagine this: It is election night, and you are one of the two major candidates for President. As the votes come in, it looks as if you will win. IT HAPPENS! You get more votes than any other candidate. But as your supporters go wild with excitement, you get bad news. Even though you won the most popular votes, you will not be the next President. Your opponent, who came in second, has won the election! How Could It Happen? Could this happen? It already has – four times in our nation’s history. The last time was in 2000, when Senator Al Gore, a Democrat, beat his Republican opponent, George W. Bush. But Bush, who lost election day, became the next President because he got a majority of votes in the Electoral College. The Electoral College When Americans go to the polls on election day, they do not actually vote for President and Vice President. Instead, when they vote for a candidate, they are actually choosing electors who support that candidate. In each state and the District of Columbia, the chosen electors meet in mid-December to cast their ballots for President and Vice President. The electoral votes are counted by the U.S. House of Representatives in January. The candidate who wins a majority (270) of the 538 electoral votes is elected President, no matter who got the most popular (of the public) votes. How Winners Can Lose How can a candidate win the most popular votes – but still lose in the electoral voting? Each state has as many electors as it has U.S. Senators (two) and Representatives (the number depends on the state’s population). The District of Columbia has three votes. In nearly all states, the candidate who gets the most popular votes gets all of the state’s electoral votes. Result: A candidate can win by a small margin in states that have many electoral votes – and defeat the candidate who gets the most popular votes nationwide. That is what happened in 2000, 1888, and 1876. Why Have This System? The electoral-college system is spelled out in the U.S. Constitution. The men who wrote the Constitution did not want to put the choice of President into the hands of the people. They did not think that the average person had enough knowledge to make such a decision. So they came up with the Electoral College. (In this case, college means a group of people named to perform a duty.) They expected that each state would choose electors from among its leading citizens. However, today, each political party elects the electors for its candidate. So, rather than “leading citizens” making the final choice of President and Vice President, that decision is made by whoever each party chooses. Some Americans want to abolish the Electoral College. They say that the people should elect the President directly. Why have a system in which the people’s choice can lose? But other Americans want to keep the system. They say that it keeps candidates from ignoring less-populous states and regions. If the President were chosen by direct popular vote, candidates might concentrate on states with the largest populations and ignore others. LOSE? THE ELECTION AND WIN COULD YOU Attach the Reading on “Could You Win the Election and Lose?”

The Electoral College in Action Lesson 18: The Road to the White House 49 R The Electoral College in Action EXAMPLE PROBLEM To keep this example of the Electoral College simple, assume that there are only five states in the United States. Pennsylvania STATE POPULAR VOTE DEMOCRAT REPUBLICAN ELECTORAL VOTES New York New Jersey Use the table above to answer the following questions. 7,000,000 6,000,001 5,000,000 8,000,000 6,000,000 4,000,000 21 31 15 Maryland Delaware 2,000,000 10,000 2,000,001 3,000,000 10 3 What was the total number of POPULAR VOTES that the Democratic candidate for President received? What was the total number of POPULAR VOTES that the Republican candidate for President received? What was the total number of ELECTORAL VOTES that the Democratic candidate for President received? What was the total number of ELECTORAL VOTES that the Republican candidate for President received? Which set of votes determines who will become President? Which candidate won the POPULAR vote in the example? Which candidate won the ELECTORAL vote in the example? Which candidate will be elected President of the United States? Attach and complete the Handout on “The Electoral College in Action Example Problem”

Review the Example Problem Lesson 18: The Road to the White House Review the Example Problem 1. What was the total number of POPULAR VOTES that the Democratic candidate for President received? 20,010,001 votes 2. What was the total number of POPULAR VOTES that the Republican candidate for President received? 23,000,001 votes 3. What was the total number of ELECTORAL VOTES that the Democratic candidate for President received? 46 electoral votes 4. What was the total number of ELECTORAL VOTES that the Republican candidate for President received? 34 electoral votes

Review the Example Problem Lesson 18: The Road to the White House Review the Example Problem 5. Which set of votes determines who will become President? The electoral votes 6. Which candidate won the POPULAR vote in the example? The Republican candidate 7. Which candidate won the ELECTORAL vote in the example? The Democratic candidate 8. Which candidate will be elected President of the United States? The Democratic candidate

How to Reach the White House Lesson 18: The Road to the White House 47 R CLASS NOTES How to Reach the White House Elected to the Office of the President The Electoral College (Article II, Section 1, paragraphs 2 and 4) The Electoral College has 538 votes Each state receives the number of electoral votes equal to the number they have in Congress (plus 3 for Washington, D.C. according to the 23rd Amendment) Every state (state legislature) decides HOW their electors will serve Maine and Nebraska split, the rest “winner-take-all” Today, with 538 electoral votes, a candidate needs 270 electoral votes to be declared the winner WHAT IF there is a tie OR no candidate receives 270 votes ?

How to Reach the White House Lesson 18: The Road to the White House 47 R CLASS NOTES How to Reach the White House If there is a tie OR no candidate receives 270 votes, the House of Representatives decides YES, twice! In 1800, Thomas Jefferson versus Aaron Burr In 1824, John Quincy Adams versus Andrew Jackson Has THAT ever happened?

How to Reach the White House Lesson 18: The Road to the White House 47 R CLASS NOTES How to Reach the White House Presidential Succession (Article II, Section 1, paragraph 6) If the office of the President becomes vacant, FIRST the Vice President 9 times (4 deaths, 4 assassinations, 1 resignation) John Tyler (1841) – death of William Henry Harrison Millard Fillmore (1850) – death of Zachary Taylor Andrew Johnson (1865) – assassination of Abraham Lincoln Chester Arthur (1881) – assassination of James Garfield Theodore Roosevelt (1901) – assassination of William McKinley Calvin Coolidge (1923) – death of Warren Harding Harry Truman (1945) – death of Franklin Roosevelt Lyndon B. Johnson (1963) – assassination of John F. Kennedy Gerald Ford (1974) – resignation of Richard Nixon Has THAT ever happened?

How to Reach the White House Lesson 18: The Road to the White House 47 R CLASS NOTES How to Reach the White House Presidential Succession (Article II, Section 1, paragraph 6) If the office of the President becomes vacant, FIRST the Vice President 9 times (4 deaths, 4 assassinations, 1 resignation) 25th Amendment Speaker of the House President pro tempore of the Senate Cabinet members in order of the cabinet’s creation The 25th amendment allows for the Vice President to become president in the event of death, resignation, removal from office, or impairment that prevents the current president from fulfilling his or her duties. The new President is to appoint a replacement Vice President.

Current Order of Succession – March 2015 Lesson 18: The Road to the White House Current Order of Succession – March 2015 The Vice President Joseph Biden (D) Speaker of the House John Boehner (R) President pro tempore of the Senate Orrin Hatch (R) Secretary of State John Kerry (D) Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew (D) Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (R) Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. (D) Secretary of the Interior *Sally Jewel (D) Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (D) Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker (D) Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez (D) Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell (D) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro (D) Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx (D) Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz (D) Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (D) Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald (R) Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson (D)

How to Reach the White House Lesson 18: The Road to the White House 47 R CLASS NOTES How to Reach the White House Presidential Succession (Article II, Section 1, paragraph 6) If the office of the President becomes vacant, FIRST the Vice President 9 times (4 deaths, 4 assassinations, 1 resignation) 25th Amendment Speaker of the House President pro tempore of the Senate Cabinet members in order of the cabinet’s creation C.O.G. – “Continuity of Government” The plan to maintain the operation of our government in a catastrophic situation History Channel – “The Day after Disaster” video

Need 270 votes L Processing the Lesson Lesson 18: The Road to the White House L 46 Processing the Lesson Need 270 votes What is the FEWEST states needed to be elected the President of the United States?

L Processing the Lesson Lesson 18: The Road to the White House L 46 Processing the Lesson What is the FEWEST states needed to be elected the President of the United States? 11 States CA – 55 TX – 38 (34) NY – 29 (31) FL – 29 (27) PA – 20 (21) IL – 20 (21) OH – 18 (20) MI – 16 (17) NJ – 14 (15) NC – 15 GA – 16 (15) Source: www.270towin.com

The Electoral College System? Lesson 18: The Road to the White House L 46 YOU DECIDE! The Electoral College System? EDMODO Should the Electoral College system be kept or eliminated? Why?