Transcript Tim Cantrell The Electoral College LCC

The Electoral College
LCC
Tim Cantrell
Creation
 The Electoral College was created at the
Constitutional Convention by the Founding
Fathers
 It was the last of many plans adopted in
1787 in Philadelphia
Major Changes Through the
Years
 12th Amendment-1804-Separated the
candidacy of the President and the VicePresident
 Popular election of electors in the 1820’s &
30’s
The Mechanics
 The Presidential Election should be viewed
as 51 separate elections each with a “winner
take all” system
 To win a candidate must get a majority of
538 votes or 270
 Each state is represented in the EC
according to their total number of members
of Congress
The Mechanics Cont’d
 Kentucky has 2 senators and 6
representatives. This means that Kentucky
has 8 electoral votes
 California, the most populous state, has two
senators and 52 representatives. This gives
California 54 electoral votes
 Wyoming, the least populous state, has two
senators and 1 representative. This gives
Wyoming 3 electoral votes
The Mechanics Cont’d
 The total electoral vote of 538 is based on
100 senators, 435 representatives for the 50
states. The 23rd Amendment gave
Washington, DC 3 electoral votes
 The candidates compete in 50 states and DC
for electoral votes and the winner must have
at least 270
 The Electoral College always works when
there are only two candidates
The Mechanics Cont’d
 If there are more than two candidates, the
system might not work
 If the system does not work, the House
elects the President and the Senate elects the
Vice-President. This has not happened
since 1824.
What the Individual Vote Means
 Individual votes count only in the state
where they are cast
 When all states have voted, the candidate
with the most votes in each state gets all the
electoral votes of that state
 In December, following the November
Election, the winning electors in each state
go to their respective state capitals and cast
their votes and send them to Congress
Electoral College Delegates
 The delegates are chosen by the political
parties in each state
 Historically, the delegates have been 99.9%
loyal to their party
 After the combined votes in 50 states and
DC are counted by a joint session of
Congress, the election is official
Disadvantages of the Electoral
College System
 Complex
 The person with the most votes may not win
Advantages
 Preserves the federal system-winning
individual states is important. Without the
EC, state lines mean nothing
 Preserves the two party system
 Keeps our politics moderate-extreme parties
have little chance of winning any state
Advantages
 Protects minorities-they form the balance of
power in most states and can’t be ignored.
Without the EC, one could develop a
program just for the white urban middle
class and win. (If you want David Duke, the
KKK man from Louisiana as President or
some other extremist, then abolish the
Electoral College and go for all popular
vote and you may get such a person.)
Conclusion
 The system is not likely to change because
of the difficulty of amending the
Constitution
 Why fix it if it is not broken?