1. THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
Each State has as many electoral votes as it has U.S. Senators and Representatives.
NOVEMBER Voters go to polls in the
general election & vote for
P & VP (popular vote);
But, are actually choosing a
slate of electors chosen by
each political party.

2. The candidate who gets the most popular votes gets ALL of that state’s electoral votes.
It is a winner-take-all system in most states.

3. Primary criticism of the Electoral College?

4. DECEMBER JANUARY Electors (representing the winning
Candidate only) meet in their state
capitals and vote for P & VP.
JANUARY
Votes from the states are opened by the President of the Senate and counted and P & VP winners are officially declared.
January 20
the new President is sworn in.

5. A candidate needs a majority of the electoral votes to win:
270 of the total 538 electoral votes.
If there is a tie (or no candidate gets a majority) in the electoral votes, the House of Representatives chooses the P. Each state gets only one vote. 29
FL currently has 29 electoral votes.

6. “Minority President”
Is a president who wins the election with less than a majority of the popular vote.
                                                                          
42%
1992
50%
1996
46%
2000

7. ELECTION 2000 ELECTORAL VOTE: BUSH (R) 277 GORE (D) 261
POPULAR VOTE: BUSH ,456,062
GORE ,996,582
FLORIDA VOTE: BUSH 2,912,790
GORE 2,912,253

8. Thousands of ballots had gone uncounted; many ballots were rejected by the machines because voters had made mistakes.

9. The Chad Problem

10. Bush v. Gore, 2000
Bush’s lead in FL over Gore was less than 1/10 of 1% - triggered an automatic recount under FL law
Palm Beach ballots led to lots of “no votes” with ballots not properly punched through
FLORIDA SUPREME COURT
Gore sued in FL Supreme Court to get a manual recount
Bush opposed saying manual recount would be arbitrary, subject to manipulation, human error & differing standards
FL SUPREME COURT ruled with Gore
U.S. SUPREME COURT
Bush appealed
SUPREME COURT overruled FL Court agreeing with Bush’s position in that case
Held that even though recount was legal, same standards for evaluation would have to be applied in all counties which was impossible
Gore concedes

11. Saturday Night Live! Election 2000
the lockbox -- the idea of keeping all payroll tax receipts totally segregated from the rest of the government's balance sheet