Drill

Who won the Popular Vote in the 2008 Presidential election?

Who won the electoral vote in the 2008 Presidential election?

Anyone know the difference? EX: Direct Democracy

The Electoral College

How to get in the White House

How is the number of electors determined?

Each state gets an elector for each member of Congress it has.

There are 100 senators, 435 Representatives, and Wash. D.C. gets 3, =538

Maryland has 8 reps and 2 senators, so we have 10 electors

The winner-take-all system

After the popular vote is counted in each state, whichever party’s candidates wins the most votes, wins ALL of the electoral votes for that state.

What do you mean by BIG states??

Since each state gets electors based on its number of members in Congress, states with larger populations get more electors.

Candidates focus on states with large populations.

Why?

So how DO you win??

To become president, you must win at least 270 electoral votes.

This could technically be done by winning the 12 biggest states

270 to WIN!!!

You decide you states electoral vote

In front of you are the states and electoral votes you are responsible for.

Flip your coin to decide your states vote Heads = Democrats (BLUE) Tails = Republicans (Red) Follow along on the screen and tell me which

color to label your state.

Which states have the most votes?

California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania

Some very large states (geographically) have very small populations, and thus, few electoral votes

Who has more, Alaska or Rhode Island????

Alaska, having 628,000 people, gets only the minimum 3 votes, even though it is the largest state in size.

Rhode Island, our tiniest state, gets 4! Due to its population being slightly over 1 million people

Can you win the most popular votes and not become the president??

Three times the winner of the popular vote has not won the electoral vote.

It’s electoral votes, not popular votes, that win!

Just ask AL Gore. He won big victories in states like California and New York, but lost close races in several states like Florida and his home state of Tennessee

2000 election map

Pro’s of Electoral College

Small states get visited more by presidential candidates because they can decide the outcome of an election

Therefore small state’s issues become important

Con’s of Electoral College

Popular winner might not be elected Not fully representational, since winner

of state gets ALL electors for that state If no one wins 270 votes, the House of

Reps chooses the president from among the top 3, eliminating the people totally!!!

So, does MY vote REALLY count?

YES!!!!!Bush won Florida by around

500 votes in a state of 16 million people!!!!!

That is .003%