The Electoral College

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The Electoral College
2
True or False?

• In a presidential election, the candidate with
  the most votes is elected president.

Answer Not necessarily. Ask Al Gore
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The 2000 Election

• The Popular Vote

Al Gore 50,996,039 George W. Bush 50,456,141
The Electoral Vote
George W. Bush 271 Al Gore 267
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Historical Background

• The framers of the Constitution disagreed on how
  to elect a presidentcongressional selection or
  direct popular election.
• The electoral college was a compromise, combining
  features of both approaches

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How Does It Work?

• Each state is entitled to as many electoral votes
  as the sum of its representation in the U.S.
  House and Senate
• Texas 32 House members plus 2 senators
• 34 electoral votes
• Pennsylvania 19 House members plus 2
  senators
• 21 electoral votes
• Total 435 House members plus 100 senators plus 3
  electors for the District of Columbia 538
  electoral votes

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Electors

• Individuals selected in each state to officially
  cast that states electoral votes.
• Framers anticipated that electors would be state
  leaders who would exercise good judgment.
• Today, party leaders select competing slates of
  electors who are typically long-time party
  activists.
• Electors almost always vote for their partys
  candidates.

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Selection of Electors

• Each state determines the manner of selection
• All but two states use a winner-take-all
  statewide election system
• If Candidate A gets the most votes in a state,
  Candidate A gets the whole slate of electors.

8
Voters and Electors

• A Texan who votes for Obama is really voting for
  a slate of electors pledged to cast the states
  electoral votes for Obama.
• In 2000, Bush won all of Floridas 25 electoral
  votes because the final official vote tally
  showed him ahead of Gore by about 600 votes.

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The Real Election

• In December, the electors gather in their
  respective state capitols to cast ballots for
  president and vice president. In January,
  Congress convenes, opens the ballots received
  from each state, and announces the official
  outcome.

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What if no one candidate receives a majority?

• To win, a candidate needs a majority, that is,
  270 electoral votes.
• If no candidate has a majority, the House selects
  the president from among the three presidential
  candidates with the most electoral votes.
• This last happened in 1824 when Congress chose
  John Quincy Adams.

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Popular Vote v. the Electoral Vote

• In a close race, the popular vote winner may not
  win the electoral college.
• Electoral vote winners who lost the popular
• vote
• Bush over Gore in 2000
• Benjamin Harrison over Grover Cleveland in 1888
• Rutherford B. Hayes over Samuel Tilden in 1876

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How does this affect elections?

• For a candidate to become president, he or she
  must win enough states to garner a majority of
  electoral votes.
• Presidential campaigns, therefore, focus on
  winning states, not on winning a national
  majority.