The Election

13.5

Electoral College• What is it?

– Representatives from the states who cast ballots for the President

• How are they chosen?– Based on the results of the popular vote within

each state

• How do they vote?– ALL electors vote for winner of popular vote in

state – “rubber stamp”

• How does that differ from the Framers’ intention?

Counting Electoral Votes

• Electors vote in their respective states

• Monday after the 2nd Wednesday in December

• Sent to the President of the Senate to be opened and counted on Jan 6th

• Is this when we find out who the President will be?

Flaws

• What are the three flaws in the electoral college system?– Winner of the popular vote not guaranteed to

win the election– Electors are not required to vote with the

people– Could be decided by the HoR

1st defect – winner of pop vote loses election

Winner-take-all

Distribution of electoral votes

2nd defect – Faithless Elector

• No laws require electors to vote for the candidate that won their state

• 9 times

• None of them changed the election results

3rd defect – HoR decides election

• If no candidate wins a majority of electoral votes, HoR decides election

• Why is it considered a defect?– Less democratic– Small states get the same votes as big states– States with even number of reps could cancel

each other out and lose their vote

Reform

• District Plan

• Proportional Plan

• Direct Popular Election

• National Bonus Plan

• Electoral College