Objectives

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Objectives

• Assess information on Electoral College, and draw
  your own conclusions as to whether or not it
  should be reformed.
• Question Should the Presidency be decided by
  popular vote of all citizens?

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Structure of Electoral College

• Electors per state Members of Congress per
  state (Reps 2 Senators)
• 538 Electoral votes (270 needed for win)
• Winner Takes All
• All electors in a state vote for whoever wins the
  state
• except Maine Nebraska (district system)
• How many Electors does Pennsylvania have?

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Impacts on the Political System?

• Con Faithless Electors
• Pro/Con Winner Takes All impacts
• Candidates may focus on large swing states
  ignore other states
• Con? Discourages 3rd parties who rarely get EC
  votes (e.g. Green Libertarian parties)
• Pro? Fosters 2-Party System (stability
  moderation)

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1968 Election George Wallace ran as an
Independent. With 13.5 of the national popular
vote, he won 45 Electoral College votes. His
regional support base was the reason. 1992
Election Ross Perot ran as an Independent. With
18.9 of the national popular vote, he won 0
Electoral College votes.
Source presidentelect.org
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CON Candidate may win despite losing the
popular vote, due to winner takes all

• How is that possible??
• 1st Scenario
• Winning candidate wins by narrow margins in
  several states, but has big losses in other
  states
• 2000 Bush 271 vs. Gore 266
• Gore had over 500,000 more popular votes than
  Bush, but lost by 537 votes in Florida
• Election results since 1964

Florida Recount
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CONS Candidate may win despite losing the
popular vote

• If no Presidential candidate wins a majority
• House of Reps chooses Pres. from top 3 (Each
  state gets only one vote)
• Senate chooses Vice President from top 2
• If no President by Jan. 20, then presidential
  succession order Speaker of House, President
  Pro Tempore, Secretary of State, other Cabinet
  Secretaries

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Pros

• Promotes Federalism
• Must campaign by states
• cant win by focusing only on a few regions
• smaller states get a boost
• Fosters Intentions of Founding Fathers
• It was a Constitutional Compromise
• Fosters Two-Party System
• More stability (fewer 3rd party upsets)

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Pros? Cons?

• Con Public Opinion (more people oppose it)
• Pro? Con? Votes of All Citizens Dont Count
  Equally (Smaller states overrepresented?)
• E.g. 2004
• 1 WY Elector 165,101 votes
• 1 CA Elector 617,000 votes
• Con Lack of Legitimacy for officeholder if they
  won election, but lost the popular vote

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Reform Proposals

• 1) District Plan Pros/Cons
• No winner takes all
• Presidential election decided by gerrymandered
  district maps
• Winner of Popular vote could still lose election
• No Constitutional Amendment required, but up to
  each state

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Reform Proposals

• 2) Proportional Plan
• of state popular vote of Electors given
• No winner takes all
• Winner of popular vote could still lose
• More 3rd party votes increase chances of vote
  being sent to House of Reps

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Reform Proposals

• 3) Direct Popular Election
• All votes count equally
• Clear winner leader with legitimacy
• Hard to amend Constitution
• Costs too much to campaign?

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Choices

• 1) Keep Electoral College as is
• 2) District Plan
• 3) Proportional Plan
• 4) Direct Popular Election
• Directions
• Discuss pros/cons of each.
• Choose your corner
• Prepare arguemtns to persuade people
• Prepare arguments for informal debate

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Should the Electoral College be reformed? If
yes, how?Informal Debate Make a list of pros
and cons. Choose a side. Defend and Explain
your position.