How Did We Get Here?

  

Party delegates from each state are

sent to the national

conventions to select the nominee.

Elections host a secret ballot and

people vote for the candidate

they want to represent their

party in thenational election.

Meetings where party leaders and supporters select candidates through discussions and consensus.

Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, Nevada, Nebraska,

Washington, Maine, Wyoming, Texas, Utah

How Did We Get Here?• Convention: – The formal purpose of a convention is to select

the party's nominee for President, as well as to adopt a statement of party principles and goals known as the platform

– Each U.S. state party is apportioned a select number of voting representatives, individually known as delegates• Republican delegates in 2012: 2,286 • Democratic delegates in 2012: 5,556

Election Day• Every four years, on the Tuesday following

the first Monday of November, millions of U.S. citizens go to voting booths. (Why this odd choice of day?)

• Votes will be recorded and counted, and winners will be declared.

Electing a PresidentThe Electoral College

Vote for me!No, vote for

me!

Don’t be a fool, vote for

me!

Seriously? Father of the

Constitution here…vote for

me!

I’m gonna buy Florida from

Spain…Disney here we come! Vote for

me!

My dad was President…doesn’t that make you want to vote

for me?!?

Actually…

I’m not voting for any of you suckers…I’m voting

for ELECTORS! Take that former Presidents

of the USA!

The Electoral College• Controversial mechanism of determining

who becomes President/VP• Set up during the Constitutional Convention

as a compromise:– Fear of a purely popular vote (Mob Rule!)– Resistance to Congress selecting President (like

England’s Parliament selecting PM)

• Described in Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution

The Electoral College• A group of electors who gather to cast their votes for the

presidential candidates • When we, as Americans, are casting our votes for the

presidential candidates, we are actually casting our votes for electors, who will cast their votes for the candidates

• The presidential candidate who receives the most votes in each states gets ALL the electoral votes for that state except for…– Each state gets 2 (for the 2 Senators) and the number of

representatives (in PA, 18 Reps)…So we have 20 electors representing PA in the Electoral College

Nebraska & Maine

Example…• If the state of Vermont has three

electoral votes, it casts all of its electoral votes for the winning candidate.

• So if Diana Johnson has 4,100,102 votes and Fred Smith has 4,100,100 votes, Diana Johnson still gets all three of Vermont's electoral votes and Fred Smith gets 0.

Why???• The Founding Fathers included the Electoral

College as one of the famous "checks and balances" for two reasons: 1) to give states with small populations more of an

equal weight in the presidential election and 2) they didn't trust the common man (Remember,

women couldn't vote then!) to be able to make an informed decision on which candidate would make the best president.

The Electoral College• There are currently 538 electors (3

represent D.C.)• On Monday, following 2nd Wednesday in

December, electors go to state capitals to cast votes

• Votes are sealed and sent to President of Senate who opens them on Jan. 6th

• The winner is sworn into office at noon

Total Number of Electors• 538 – one for each Representative (435),

each Senator (100), and three votes for the District of Columbia (Wash, D.C.)

• To win the Presidency a candidate must secure a majority…how many votes is that?– 270 Electoral College Votes = “magic number”– What if there’s no majority?!? • The House of Representatives selects the President

How to Become an Elector• Nominated by his/her state party as

reward for years of service• Campaign for spot during state’s party

convention

And the Winner is…• Usually these electors vote for the candidate

they were elected to vote for.• But, it’s legal not to!• It’s even happened!• People who do this (usually to break a

deadlock) are called faithless electors

Surprise Endings???• But even if everyone keeps faith there can

be problems• Winning the popular vote (the total

number of people voting for each candidate) don’t always translate into a Presidency

All-or-Nothing Voting• For 48 states (excluding Maine & Nebraska)

use all-or-nothing voting– Winning that state’s popular votes earns you

ALL of it’s electoral votes– This is instead of a District System (Ex:

Candidate A wins 60% of popular vote in State B—which has 10 Electors—and gets 6 votes

Winner is Not Taking All• There have been 4 Elections where the popular

vote did not win a seat at the Oval Office:– 1824: John Quincy Adams won by 38,000 votes (a

plurality but not a majority) so the Electoral College turned it over to the House of Representatives and he lost to Andrew Jackson (We’ll talk more about this one later!)

– 1876: Samuel J. Tilden won by 264,000 votes but lost in Electoral College by 264,000 votes to Rutherford B. Hayes

Winner is Not Taking All• 1888: Benjamin Harrison lost popular

vote by 95,713 votes but won Electoral College by 6 votes

• 2000: Al Gore received 50,992,335 votes to George W. Bush’s 50,455,156 votes. But was awarded the state of Florida after a LONG and CONTENTIOUS legal battle. President Bush consequently won 271-266 in Electoral College

How do you feel about this system?

General Population’s Feelings• “Having a president elected by raw, popular

vote is deep in the American psyche.”• Isn’t it wrong that a few hundred obscure

electors should be allowed to reverse the people’s choice?

• It’s “archaic, undemocratic, needlessly complex, ambiguous, indirect, and dangerous.”

• Congress has been trying to abolish it since 1969.

Alan Natapoff Disagrees• Mathematician & Particle Physicist from

MIT & Berkely• He contends that our electoral college

system increases’ a voter’s power.• And his background in baseball helps to

make his case…

1960 World Series• Pittsburgh Pirates vs. New York Yankees• Yankees were heavily favored with their line-up

including stars like—Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Bill Skowron!

• The Yankees outscored the Pirates 55 to 27 over the course of the series.

• But, the Pirates managed to squeak out 4 close games!

• Who was the World Champion? • Was it fair? Why?

Baseball & The Electoral College

• Runs must be grouped in a way that wins games just as popular votes must be grouped in a way that wins states.

• Champion should be able to win at least some of the tough, close contests by every means available and not just smack home runs against second-best pitchers. A Presidential candidate worthy of office, should have broad appeal across the whole nation, not just play strongly on a single issue to an isolated block of voters.

Baseball & The Electoral College

• Originally this was done to avoid mob rule and make voting easier in an age of limited communication and transportation

• But it was a lucky stroke because it makes each voter more powerful:– Each voter’s power boils down the probability

of his/her vote deciding the election—which means you have more power in this system than a raw, popular vote.

Baseball & The Electoral College

• “James Madison, the chief architect of our nation’s electoral college, wanted to protect citizens against the most insidious tyranny that arises in democracies: the massed power of fellow citizens banded together into dominant blocs.”

• What does this mean?

Electoral College: Pro or Con?

• Keep in mind:– That smaller states get disproportionate

representation. (Why?)– How do you think minority groups (those

parties with less voters) would be treated in a blow out election?

• What do you think?

Electoral College: Pro or Con?

• Let’s Look at Some Past Electoral College Maps

• http://www.270towin.com/