1. You decide?
ICE CREAM
PIZZA

2. Electors:
A member of the electoral college who chooses the president.

3. Topic: The Electoral College
Aim: How does the electoral college choose the president?

6. I. History of Electoral College
Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution
Reasons for it:
1. Balance power btw large states and small states
2. People weren’t informed enough to make a good decision
3. Voters didn’t know about candidates from other states
C. Electors- chosen by state political parties who are pledged to support their party’s candidates.

7. II. What is the electoral college?
538 members from all 50 states (including Washington D.C.)
Majority of 270 votes needed to win

10. III. How many electoral votes does each state get?
# of Congressional seats plus 2 senate seats = electoral votes
Example: NY has 27 Congressional Seats and 2 Senate seats = 29 Electoral votes
Census taken every 10 years can change the # of electoral votes

11. IV. Why vote on Election Day?
To choose the electors!
Winner Take All System: the candidate who wins the popular vote in the state wins all the electoral votes.

13. V. Electoral College
Meets in their state capital in December to cast vote
Joint Session of Congress : January 6th 1. count the vote
2. make the election official
C. January 20th – Inauguration Day

14. VI. What if no candidate gets the 270 votes needed to win?
House of Representatives will elect the President.
Senate will choose the Vice-President.

15. Bush: 50,456,002 (47.9%) 271 Gore: 50,999,897 (48.4%) 266

16. VII. Popular Vote v. Electoral Vote
1824: John Quincy Adams v. A. Jackson
1876: Rutherford B. Hayes v. Samuel J. Tilden
1888: Benjamin Harrison v. Grover Cleveland
2000: Al Gore v. George W. Bush

17. Summary 51 Separate Races
Candidates have to figure out how to rack up 270 votes state by state
Process leaves some states out of the race.