1. Electoral College Notes
Executive Branch

2. What is the Electoral College?
Group of persons chosen in each state and the District of Columbia every four years who make a formal selection of the President and Vice President
Outlined in the Constitution
Each state has the same amount of electors as it does members of Congress (538)
270 needed to win
Most electors tend to vote in a partisan way
You cast your vote as the Popular Vote
Electors cast their vote as Electoral Vote
This is the one that “counts”

3. What are the flaws of the Electoral College?
The winner of the popular vote is not guaranteed the presidency
Electors are not required to vote in accordance with the popular vote
Any election might have to be decided by the House of Representatives

4. The winner of the popular vote is not guaranteed the presidency
Occurred in elections of 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000
Election of 2000
George W. Bush (R)
Al Gore (D)
Gore won Popular Vote with 50,992,335 which was 537,139 more then Bush
Bush received 271 electoral votes

5. Electors are not required to vote in accordance with the popular vote
No where is it stated in the Constitution that a state’s electors have to vote in accordance with the popular vote
However, this has only happened 11 times

6. Any election might have to be decided by the House of Representatives
If a candidate does not receive a majority of the electoral votes (270) the decision to elect the president goes to the House of Representatives
Only happened twice
1800 and 1824
Election of 1824
John Q. Adams defeats Andrew Jackson
Jackson had more electoral votes but the H of R gave the win to Q. Adams

7. Proposed Solutions & Flaws

8. The District Plan
Electors would be chosen in each state in the same way as members of Congress
2 electors selected at large and would cast electoral vote in accordance with popular vote
Other electors would be elected in each of the state’s congressional districts and electoral vote would be in line with popular vote in each
FLAW: Does not eliminate possibility of electoral winner who loses popular vote

9. The Proportional Plan
Each presidential candidate receives same share of a state’s electoral vote as he or she received in the state’s popular vote
Ex. Candidate wins 40% of popular vote in a state with 20 electoral votes, then candidate would receive 8 votes
FLAW: Eliminates winner-take-all system, increase number of third parties

10. Direct Popular Election
Eliminates Electoral College all together
Supports idea of Democratic choice
The winner would always have a plurality of support
FLAWS: Needs constitutional amendment to change, small states lose political power, candidates would need to spend more time and $ to campaign in each state, higher likelihood of voter fraud

11. National Bonus Plan EC basically stays the same
A pool of 102 bonus electors are awarded to winner of national popular vote
Electoral votes and bonus electors would need to add to majority of 321 to win presidency
FLAW: Not widely supported or understood, extra electors seem unnecessary

12. Electoral College Videos
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13. Assignment https://www.icivics.org/games/win- white-house
Go to the following link and play the game Win the White House
You will create a candidate, debate issues, and try to win electoral votes in order to win your campaign!

14. https://www.icivics.or g/games/win-white- house