Blast Off

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Blast Off!

• Put your Current Events article in the basket!

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Test Wednesday!

• Definition of a political party.
• Bush and Kerrys positions on the major issues of
  the campaign.
• Electoral College (todays notes).

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The Electoral College

• How the President is Elected

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In other words

• How can someone get fewer votes from the American
  people than their opponent and STILL win the
  election?

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I. How it Works
A. Electors A number of people representing each
state who cast official votes for the President
in elections. 1. Larger states get more
electoral votes, smaller states get fewer.
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2. Each states electors x Members of Congress
2 Senators 3. Washington, D.C.s electors 3
435 Representatives 100 Senators 3
for Washington, D.C. _____________________________
_____________________ 538 Electors
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• B. Electoral College When the electors work
  together to choose a President of the United
  States.
• 1. The votes are counted within each state. The
  candidate with the most votes gets all of that
  states electoral votes.

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North Carolinas 2000 Election Results Bush
1,631,163 votes (56.5) Gore 1,257,692 votes
(43.5) Bush won all of NCs 14 Electoral
Votes
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2000 Electoral College Map
Blue George W. Bush (Republican) Red Al Gore
(Democrat)
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1996 Electoral College Map
Blue Bob Dole (Republican) Red Bill Clinton
(Democrat)
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1992 Electoral College Map
Blue George Bush (Republican) Red Bill Clinton
(Democrat)
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1988 Electoral College Map
Blue George Bush (Republican) Red Michael
Dukakis (Democrat)
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1984 Electoral College Map
Ronald Reagan (Republican) Red Walter Mondale
(Democrat)
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1972 Electoral College Map
Blue Richard Nixon (Republican) Red George
McGovern (Democrat)
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2004 Estimated Electoral College Map
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2. The winner of the election must earn 270
electoral votes. 3. If no one gets 270 votes, the
winner is decided in the House of
Representatives. (This has happened twice in
U.S. history 1 point extra credit if you can
tell me which years tomorrow!)
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II. Problems

• A. Allows a candidate to win the popular vote
  (the most votes from all people nationwide), but
  lose in the Electoral College.
• Ex. The 2000 Election

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• B. Was written because the Founding Fathers did
  not trust the American people to choose properly
  with a popular vote, so they gave the bigger
  states more power.

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• C. Candidates spend all their time campaigning in
  bigger states so they can get the most electoral
  votes, leaving the issues and concerns of many
  small states ignored.

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III. Practice

• A. Using the map you were given, complete
  worksheet page 49.

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Shortest Route to 270

• California 55
• Texas 34
• New York 31
• Florida 27
• Pennsylvania 21
• Illinois 21
• Ohio 20
• Michigan 17
• Georgia 15
• New Jersey 15
• North Carolina 15

Total 271