1 / 18

Electoral College

Electoral College. Random Trivia. Who was the first to use a campaign photo of himself shirtless? JFK Who was the only one who could write with both hands at the same time? James Garfield- he could write Greek with one hand and Latin with the other.

terrancel
Download Presentation

Electoral College

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Electoral College

  2. Random Trivia • Who was the first to use a campaign photo of himself shirtless? • JFK • Who was the only one who could write with both hands at the same time? • James Garfield- he could write Greek with one hand and Latin with the other.

  3. group of persons chosen in each State and the District of Columbia every four years who make a formal selection of the President and Vice President there is an electoral college for each candidate on the ballot One elector for each senator and representative Electoral College

  4. Electoral College • Framers expected the Electors to use their own judgment in selecting the president • now Electors vote for their party • felt the average citizens were not enlightened enough to select the president- educated, informed

  5. Who are the electors? • electors cannot be members of Congress or employed by the Federal Government • chosen by political parties • Currently in Arizona we have 11 Electors (2 senators and 9 representatives)

  6. Electoral College • The 23rd Amendment (1961) gave the District of Columbia electoral college votes • the same number of electors as the least populous State • Washington DC has 3 electoral college votes

  7. How it works step one • electors are chosen in every state on election day • you do not actually vote for president, you vote for electors • the candidate that wins the popular votein the state wins the electoral college vote

  8. step two • electors, from winning party, meet at state capital on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December • formally cast their vote, sign, seal and send to Washington DC • one for President • one for Vice President

  9. step three • The votes are officially counted on January 6th before a joint session of Congress • President of the Senate opens and reads each vote • The candidate that receives at least 270 out of 538 electoral college votes wins

  10. Random Trivia • Who had a middle initial but no middle name? • Harry S. Truman • Who was the first to ride in an automobile? • T. Roosevelt

  11. First Major Defect • The candidate that wins the popular vote does not always win the Electoral College vote • 2000 election • Gore 49,357,039 (49%) • Bush 47,152,250 (48%) • Gore 267 electoral college votes • Bush 271 electoral college votes

  12. Second Major Defect • members of the Electoral College are not required to vote with the popular vote • They are expected to as loyal members of their party • “faithless elector” has never had a bearing on the election

  13. Third Major Defect • if a candidate does not receive a majority of the electoral college votes then the election goes to the House of Representatives • each state has one vote at this time (regardless of whether they have 1 or 52 representatives)

  14. There have been suggestions about CHANGING the electoral College . Lets take a look at some of the proposals.

  15. District Plan • electors would be chosen in each state the same way as members of Congress • two chosen at large and would cast vote along with popular vote • other electors would be chosen from each congressional district and would vote with the popular vote from that district

  16. Proportional Plan • each presidential candidate would receive the same share of a state’s electoral votes as he or she received in the state’s popular vote • Arizona = 11 votes • 50% to candidate 1 = 5 votes • 50% to candidate 2 = 6 votes

  17. Direct Popular Election • do away with the electoral college • candidate that wins the popular vote in the country would win the election

More Related