Presidential Election 2012

How do you think the President should be elected?

How IS the President Elected? Election every 4 years-the 1 st Tuesday after the 1 st Monday in November When you vote you are voting for ELECTORS who will vote for the President The ELECTORS will travel to Washington, D.C. in early December and vote for their candidate The President is then inaugurated on January 20 th

Who are these ELECTORS? Electors are representatives of their political party. The number of electors that each state gets is equal to the number of representatives in the House of Representatives + the number of Senators (2) – Ex. Massachusetts has 9 members in the H of R + 2 Senators=11 Electors How Electors are chosen varies from state to state Often they are chosen to “recognize dedication and service to their political party” Electors’ names may or may not appear on the ballot under the candidates name they represent – MA Democratic Electors may appear under President Obama’s name – MA Republican Electors may appear under Gov. Romney’s name

Electoral College Distribution 2012

What does this mean for MY vote…? When I vote for a candidate, I am really voting for the electors to vote for my candidate In 48 out of 50 states the candidate that gets a MAJORITY of the vote (even if its by 2 votes) will get ALL of the electoral votes – Ex. If Romney gets 300,002 votes and Obama gets 300,000 votes what happens to MA’s 11 electoral votes??? A presidential candidate CAN win the popular vote, but lose the electoral vote. There are 538 electoral votes up for grabs and a presidential candidate needs to get 270 of them to win!

What about those 2 other states? The two states that divide their electoral votes are Maine and Nebraska Maine and Nebraska divide their votes by how districts vote—not as a whole state

How do I know the electors will really vote for the candidate they ‘represent’? In over 25 states, it is mandated by STATE law that electors vote for the party they represent In the others, its faith in the electors party loyalty

WHY DID THE FRAMERS OF THE CONSTITUTION CREATE THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE? IS IT DEMOCRACY??