Transcript Electoral College

Electoral College
How does the President Become the President??
Election in the Year 2000
• Al Gore (D)
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vs.
National Results:
Gore: 50,996,582 votes
Bush: 50,456,062 votes
Who Wins?
George Bush (R)
How do we really elect a president?
• A popular vote is held within each state and
whatever candidate has more popular votes in
the state wins all of the electoral votes that
state is worth
• What happened in 2000’s election?
2000 Election
• Expected to be VERY close
• Most states tend to be Democratic or
Republican
• Election would be decided by swing statesstates with about = # of Democrats and
Republicans
• Florida was swing state worth 25 Electoral
Votes and would likely determine the election
Florida News Flash 2000 Election
Florida News Flash 2 during 2000
Election
Recount ordered in Florida
• Gore- 266 Electoral Votes
• Bush- 246 Electoral Votes
• Florida- Worth 25 Electoral Votes
Bush Wins Florida!
• Bush- 2,912,790 votes in Florida (48.85%) 271 EV
• Gore- 2,912,293 votes in Florida (48.84%) 266 EV
Main Things to Know…
• Electoral College- System by which we elect a
President in the United States
• Popular Vote- Number of individual votes
candidates get from people in the U.S.
• Electoral Vote- This is the number of votes
that determines winner of the election. Each
state is worth a number of “points” or
electoral votes = same as # in Congress +
Washington DC = 3
How the Electoral College Works
• Main political parties select 1 candidate each to run…Primary
or Caucus to determine the 1.
– Why would 2 candidates from the same party guarantee a loss?
• Popular vote held in each state and winner of state gets ALL
electoral votes (points)
• Electoral Vote total each state is worth is same as # that state
has in congress (Senate and House of Representatives
combined) Example: If Iowa has 6 members in congress the
state is worth 6 electoral votes.
• Whether a candidate wins a state by a lot or a little they get
all electoral votes (points) of the state
• Gore won a states by a LOT
• Bush won states by a LITTLE
Electoral College
• 4 times a candidate has won popular vote and
lost election
• Census- population of each state figured every
10 years. This could change the number of
electoral votes that state is worth. Example:
Iowa was worth 7 electoral votes in 2008
election but only 6 in 2012 election
• Why?
Projections for 2016?
• Questions to consider
1. How can they already know which states will
go to Republican and which states Democratic
without knowing who is running?
2. What states will determine the winner?
3. What are some states worth high point
values (electoral votes)? Low values?
• http://www.270towin.com/2016_election_pr
edictions.php?mapid=bIrY
Electoral College
Problem Solving Group Work
Using the information provided you and your group
should come up with an Electoral College score for the 8
states given from the 2012 election. Answer the
following…
1) Who wins the election based on these 8 states?
2) How many electoral votes does each candidate have?
3) How many popular votes does each candidate have?
BONUS: Assuming the same results within each state,
what would the electoral vote count have been if these
results were in 2008 (use 2008 electoral map)?
2012 Election Results
Barack Obama (D) vs. Mitt Romney (R)
Wyoming
Romney- 170,265
Obama- 68,780
_________
Ohio
________________
Romney- 2,593,779
Obama- 2,697,260
Illinois
Romney- 2,090,116
Obama- 2,916,811
________
Arizona
Romney- 1,143,051
Obama- 930,669
Colorado
Romney- 1,125,391
Obama- 1,238,490
________
Tennessee
Romney-1,453,097
Obama- 953,043
Texas
Romney- 4,555,799
Obama- 3,294,440
Pennsylvania
Romney- 2,619,583
Obama- 2,907,448
________
________
2008