Ms. Hurley Government April 8, 2009 The Electoral College

Election Day: When Americans go to the polls during a Presidential election year, many believe they are voting directly for the President. In fact, we are NOT directly voting for the President. Instead, voters are voting for a group of electorates, who have pledged their electoral vote for the winning candidate at a meeting at their respective states’ capital

What are Electoral votes? Every state is given Electoral votes. These are the votes that are cast in order to formally elect our President To determine how many votes each state gets, we just follow this simple equation Number of Senators + Number of Representatives = Votes! So, Illinois has 2 Senators + 19 Representatives = 21 E.V

Who is in the Electoral College? Democrats of IllinoisRepublicans of Illinois 21 Electorates Each party of every state, names electorates, usually at party conventions The Electorates are party loyalist who have pledged their vote to their party’s candidates.

After November 6, What Happens? The electorates meet at their state capital and sign a Certificate of Vote This Certificate is then sent to Washington, where the electoral votes are counted. December 7, 2012 During this, each state opens their envelope and pledges their electoral vote. The Vice President fulfills one of his roles, by Presiding over the Senate and directing the reading of the votes

270 to win! In order to win the Presidency, the President must win at least 270 electoral votes. Finally on January 6, Our President is formally elected.

Origins of the Electoral College Founders wanted to give less populated states some leverage in choosing the President Sought to balance State and Federal Power Did not trust the common voters to make a wise decision 12 th Amendment- changed the way the President and Vice President were chosen.

Problems with the Electoral College Faithless Electors- An electorate from DC did not cast her electoral vote for Al Gore in 2000 as a form of protest Winner Take All- Even if the winner of the state vote only wins by a slight margin, they still receive ALL electoral votes Any election could be determined in the House of Representative- states vote by STATE, not number of Representatives (ALL states have EQUAL Vote)

Historical Significance? 4 times in History, Presidents who did NOT win the popular vote became President. Most notably and recently, George W. Bush 36 days after the election, George W. Bush was finally named President!

Need for Change? Getting rid of the electoral college would require an Amendment to the Constitution. However, due to the “flaws” with the electoral college many say an Amendment is necessary. oDistrict Plan oDirect Election oProportional Plan

District Plan ProsCons The concept of Winner Take All would be eliminated Does not eliminate the idea that popular vote winner may still not be President Voters would be able to elect the Electorates making Electorates accountable Nixon vs. Kennedy 1960 Under this plan- Kennedy would have lost

Proportional Plan ProsCons Cut Winner Take allStill possible for loser of popular election to win electoral vote Example: William Jennings Bryan would have beat McKinley Get Rid of Faithless ElectorsCritics worry about what this would do to Two Party systems. A third party would receive votes without winning states

Direct Election ProsCons Vote directly and the system would lose the Electoral College Constitutional Amendment would be cumbersome, time consuming, AND could be blocked by small states It is a known process, and it identifies a winner quickly and efficiently (with the exception of 2000) Weaken our federal system, as States would lose their power in choosing the President

What do you think? The electoral college is up for debate, in order to change the United States would have to amend the Constitution. Do you support an amendment to the constitution that would change the method of Presidential election?