The Electoral College

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•538

•How many electoral votes must a candidate get to become president (the “magic number”)?

•270

•(1 more than half the total… 538/2 = 269)

•How many total electors are there?

How is the number of electors per state

determined?• To find out how many electoral vote each state has, add the number of Representatives (Congressional Districts) in each state + number of Senators = electoral votes

A map of Maine’s Congressional districts

2 House of Rep. seats + 2 Senate seats =

4 electoral votes

A map of California’s Congressional districts

53 House of Rep. seats + 2 Senate seats =

55 electoral votes

What is the smallest number of electors a state could have?

3

How does the popular vote in each state influence that state’s electoral vote?

•In 48 states, whichever candidate wins the popular vote in the state wins ALL of the state’s electoral votes.

This image shows that in the 2004 election, George Bush, the Republican candidate, won the majority of the popular vote in Nevada and got all 5 electoral votes from that state (names of electors in pink). In contrast, John Kerry, the Democratic candidate, won the majority of votes in New Hampshire and got all 4 of that state’s electoral votes (names of electors in blue).

Republican candidateGeorge Bush

Democratic candidateJohn Kerry

Third Party Candidates

http://presidentelect.org/e2004.html

Which 2 states don’t use the

winner-take-all system? •Maine & Nebraska

•Maine and Nebraska use the District Method: 2 electoral votes go to the candidate who wins the most votes overall in the state, and the other electoral votes go to whichever candidate wins each congressional district

Arguments for the electoral

college•encourages a 2-party system which builds political stability

•candidates must get support from a variety of different regions to win enough electoral votes - builds unity

•Voters in small states matter - candidates don’t just pay attention to large states

Arguments against the electoral

college•It diminishes the principle of one person, one vote

•In states where one candidate is very popular, voters may feel like there is little reason to vote- the outcome will not change

•a candidate could win the popular vote nationwide but lose the electoral vote. In that case the candidate who won more people’s votes does not become president. This has happened 3 times in U.S. history

Suggested Reforms

•Reform Idea #1

•• abolish the electoral college and use the nationwide popular vote instead

•Reform Idea #2

•• have every state use the District Method (like Maine and Nebraska)

California uses the winner take all system, so John Kerry won all 55 electoral votes in the 2004 election. If California

had adopted Reform Idea #2, how many electoral college votes would John Kerry have won?

George Bush?

How does the electoral college influence a candidate’s campaign

strategy?•focus on “battleground states” where polls show the race is close

•ignore states where polls show one candidate is very popular

•in MOST cases less effort to woo voters in small population states

•in SOME cases focus on larger population states

What are the key battleground states

this year?