Sept 13 – Gov – The Electoral College Agenda:  Making a Connection  Notes: The Electoral College  How super is it? Homework:  Page  Begin Ch 7 SG Take out:  Pen/Pencil  Notebook Goals:  Understand the function of the electoral college

Campaign 2008 Timeline 1. Declaration 2. Nomination 3. National Convention 4. Fall Campaign 4. Election Day 5. Meeting of electors 6. Formal Election 7. Inauguration Day Nomination Phase to win…delegates to Fall Campaign

Link to video

Establishing a Connection:  What is the relationship between the electoral college and what is written on your PostIt note?

Going to College... The Constitutional mechanism for indirectly electing the President of the United States of America

How it used to work…  Electors vote for two people – President and VP  POTUS = most votes  VPOTUS = second most votes  12 th Amendment changed the Electoral College to the way it works today.

Winner take All*  Whoever wins a plurality of the votes in each state wins ALL of their electoral votes. *Exceptions…  Nebraska and Maine awarded by Congressional Districts  Sometimes there are ‘faithless electors’

Minnesota’s Electoral Shenanigans  Minnesota had a ‘faithless elector’  One elector cast his Presidential elector vote for ‘John Edwards’  For President Kerry – 9 Edwards – 1  For Vice-President Edwards – 10  26 states have laws against, MN doesn’t  Other faithless electors

Who are the electors?  # of electors = # of Representatives + # of Senators (however the Reps and Senators are NOT the actual electors) WA DC gets 3 by viture of Amendment 23  chosen by the party as a reward for long- time support & loyalty to their party  In some states the names of the electors appear on the ballot

January 6, 2005  EVs have to arrive in DC by the fourth Wednesday in December  Vice President of the US presides over the counting of the Electoral Votes in a joint session of Congress  Then, and only then, has the United States officially elected the President of the US

EV Magnifying the Popular Vote % of pop vote% of EV 2008 – Obama53%68% 2004 – Bush51%53% 2000 – Bush*48%50% 1996 – Clinton49%70% 1992 – Clinton43%69% 1988 – Bush53%79% 1984 – Reagan58%98%

Is the Electoral College Equitable? Size Rank 2010 Pop.Pop per Senator Pop. per Elector 1California37,253,95618,626,978677,344 2Texas25,145,56112,572,781661,725 3New York19,378,1029,689,051668,210 4Florida18,801,3109,400,655648,321 20Wisconsin5,363,6752,681,838536,367 21Minnesota4,919,4792,459,740491,947 30Iowa2,926,3241,463,162487,720 46S. Dakota754,844377,422251,614 47Alaska626,932313,466208,977 48N. Dakota642,200321,100214,066 49Vermont608,827304,414202,942 50D.C.572,059 Taxation without Representation 190,686 51Wyoming493,782246,891164,594

Ok…now evaluate.  On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, how SUPER is our electoral process? Explain your answer.

amount of attention the Bush and Kerry campaigns gave to each state during the final five weeks of the 2004 election. each waving hand = a visit from a presidential or vice- presidential candidate during the final five weeks of the election. each dollar sign represents one million dollars spent on TV advertising by the campaigns during the same time period. Data from FairVote's report, "Who Picks the President?"

Criticisms  President can be elected w/only a plurality, rather than majority  Don’t have to win popular vote (2000)  Small states proportionally overrepresented Wyoming has 500,000 people, 1 vote for every 166,000 people; California, 33 million, 1 vote for every 600,000 people  Inhibits development of 3 rd parties Ross Perot, 19% of vote, no electoral votes since he did not win any states

Alternatives to Electoral System  Direct election One person, one vote  District System Candidate who wins congressional district wins district electoral vote  Proportional system Candidate gets same % of electoral votes as popular vote in state

In Plain English