1. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
By: Kiva, Jessica, Patricia, and Kimberly

2. What Are Presidential Elections?
Presidential elections are an indirect vote in which citizens cast ballots for a slate of members of the U.S. Electoral College; these electors in turn directly elect the President and Vice President
Each state is assigned a number of electoral votes according to its population. The number of electoral votes is set at 538. Each state receives one electoral vote for the number of members it has in the House of Representatives; this accounts for 435 of the 538 electoral votes. Note that 48 out of the 50 states award electoral votes on a winner-takes-all basis (as does DC). For example, all 55 of California's electoral votes go to the winner of that State election, even if the margin of victory is only 50.1 percent to percent.

3. How Math is Used in Presidential Elections...
Tally the popular vote for each candidate by adding the number of votes received in each state.
Choose a regional area (to limit the number of states) and record the popular votes for each candidate within each state of the regional area. (bar graph)
Identify how many people voted and convert the popular vote for each candidate into a percentage
Create a pie graph showing the demographic breakdown of voters for each candidate.

4. The primary are run by state and local governments, while the caucuses are organized directly by the political parties. Some states only hold primary elections, some only hold caucuses, and others use a combination of both. These primaries and caucuses are staggered between January and June before the federal election, with Iowa and New Hampshire traditionally holding the first presidential state caucus and primary, respectively
The United States presidential election of 2012 is the next U.S. presidential election, to be held on Tuesday, November 6, It will be the 57th quadrennial presidential election in which presidential electors, who will actually elect the President and the Vice President of the United States on December 17, 2012, will be chosen. Incumbent President Barack Obama is running for a second and final term during this election.
As specified in the Constitution, the 2012 presidential election will coincide with the United States Senate elections where one-third of the Senators will face re-election (33 Class I seats), and the United States House of Representatives elections (which occurs every two years) to elect the members for the 113th Congress. Eleven gubernatorial elections and many elections for state legislatures will also take place at the same time

5. Example 2000 U.S. Presidential Election:
Each state receives one electoral vote for each of its members of the Senate; this accounts for 100 electoral votes, as each state has two senators. Finally, the District of Columbia has three electoral votes (as granted by the 23rd Amendment). In 48 of the 50 states and in the District of Columbia, the candidate who receives the most votes from its voters – the plurality winner – wins all of the electoral votes from that state.
2000 U.S. Presidential Election:
Presidents won a majority of electoral votes but did not win a plurality of popular votes.
George W. Bush (Republican)
50,456,002 popular votes
271 electoral votes
Albert A. Gore (Democraat)
50,999,897 popular votes
266 electoral votes
Ralph Nader (Green Party)
2,882,955 popular votes
0 electoral votes

6. Key Points
Electoral college-a body of electors chosen by voters in each state to elect the president and vice president
Each state is assigned a number of electoral votes according to state population
Each state elects members of congress called representatives who serve in the house of representatives in congress
Number of members of congress is set to 435
The census taken every 10 years decides how to distribute the representatives
For example if AZ loses population it loses representatives, if CA gains population it gains representatives
Each had two senators, regardless of population who serve 6 terms

7. Procedures and Applications
What is wrong with casting a single vote for our most-preferred candidate and the candidate with the most votes wins the election? When each voter casts a vote for a single candidate in which the candidate with the most votes wins, then the election procedure is called plurality rule. Many people in the United States think of plurality rule when they think about voting, because they cast a vote for a single candidate in many of the governmental elections, including the U.S. presidential election. But, the election for U.S. president is more complicated than plurality rule, as a candidate becomes the next president of the United States when he or she wins a majority, or 270 of the 538 electoral votes.

8. Different Types of Voting Systems
Plurality Voting: also known as "first-past-the-post," the candidate with the most votes is declared the winner.
Single Transferable Voting: takes account of the entire range of preferences each voter has for the candidates. All electors rank all the candidates in order of preference. When the votes are tallied, the candidates are first ranked based on the number of first-place votes each received. The candidate who comes out last is dropped from the list.
Borda Count Voting: idea is to try to take account of each voter's overall preferences among all the candidates. As with the single transferable vote, in this system, when the poll takes place, each voter ranks all the candidates.
Approval Voting: try to ensure that the process does not lead to the election of someone whom the majority opposes. Each voter is allowed to vote for all those candidates of whom he or she approves, and the candidate who gets the most votes wins the election.