1. How does the President Become the President??
Electoral College
How does the President Become the President??

2. Election in the Year 2000 Al Gore (D) vs. George Bush (R)
National Results:
Gore: 50,996,582 votes
Bush: 50,456,062 votes
Who Wins?

3. How do we really elect a president?
A popular vote is held within each state and whatever candidate has more popular votes in the state wins all of the electoral votes that state is worth
What happened in 2000’s election?

4. 2000 Election Expected to be VERY close
Most states tend to be Democratic or Republican
Election would be decided by swing states- states with about = # of Democrats and Republicans
Florida was swing state worth 25 Electoral Votes and would likely determine the election

5. Florida News Flash 2000 Election

6. Florida News Flash 2 during 2000 Election

7. Recount ordered in Florida
Gore- 266 Electoral Votes
Bush- 246 Electoral Votes
Florida- Worth 25 Electoral Votes

8. Bush Wins Florida! Bush- 2,912,790 votes in Florida (48.85%) 271 EV
Gore- 2,912,293 votes in Florida (48.84%) 266 EV

9. Main Things to Know…
Electoral College- System by which we elect a President in the United States
Popular Vote- Number of individual votes candidates get from people in the U.S.
Electoral Vote- This is the number of votes that determines winner of the election. Each state is worth a number of “points” or electoral votes = same as # in Congress + Washington DC = 3

10. How the Electoral College Works
Main political parties select 1 candidate each to run…Primary or Caucus to determine the 1.
Why would 2 candidates from the same party guarantee a loss?
Popular vote held in each state and winner of state gets ALL electoral votes (points)
Electoral Vote total each state is worth is same as # that state has in congress (Senate and House of Representatives combined) Example: If Iowa has 6 members in congress the state is worth 6 electoral votes.
Whether a candidate wins a state by a lot or a little they get all electoral votes (points) of the state
Gore won a states by a LOT
Bush won states by a LITTLE

11. Electoral College
4 times a candidate has won popular vote and lost election
Census- population of each state figured every 10 years. This could change the number of electoral votes that state is worth. Example: Iowa was worth 7 electoral votes in 2008 election but only 6 in 2012 election
Why?

12. Projections for 2016? Questions to consider
1. How can they already know which states will go to Republican and which states Democratic without knowing who is running?
What states will determine the winner?
What are some states worth high point values (electoral votes)? Low values?

13. Electoral College Problem Solving Group Work
Using the information provided you and your group should come up with an Electoral College score for the 8 states given from the 2012 election. Answer the following…
1) Who wins the election based on these 8 states?
2) How many electoral votes does each candidate have?
3) How many popular votes does each candidate have?
BONUS: Assuming the same results within each state, what would the electoral vote count have been if these results were in 2008 (use 2008 electoral map)?

14. 2012 Election Results Barack Obama (D) vs. Mitt Romney (R)
Wyoming _________
Romney- 170,265
Obama- 68,780
Illinois ________
Romney- 2,090,116
Obama- 2,916,811
Colorado ________
Romney- 1,125,391
Obama- 1,238,490
Texas
Romney- 4,555,799
Obama- 3,294,440
Ohio ________________
Romney- 2,593,779
Obama- 2,697,260
Arizona ________
Romney- 1,143,051
Obama- 930,669
Tennessee
Romney-1,453,097
Obama- 953,043
Pennsylvania ________
Romney- 2,619,583
Obama- 2,907,448

16. 2008