The Electoral College

101By Carolyn McLarty, DVM

Republican National Committeewoman for Oklahoma

What is the Electoral

College?

It is NOT a place!

It is a group of people who are elected to officially

vote for a Presidential and Vice Presidential

Candidate.

https://www.skidmore.edu/vote/

College

1. an educational institution or establishment.

2. an organized group of professional people with particular aims, duties, and privileges. Ex: "the electoral

college”

Latin: col- ‘together with’ + legare- ‘act as deputy’

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=college+definition&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8http://regents.okstate.edu/sites/default/files/homepage-slides/OSU.jpg, https://atholreccentre.com/2014/06/23/reminder-athol-recreation-committee-meeting-tonight-starts-at-7pm/

ELECTORS FORPRESIDENTAND VICE PRESIDENT(Vote for One)FOR PRESIDENT ANDVICE PRESIDENTDONALD J. TRUMPMICHAEL R. PENCEREPUBLICANFOR ELECTORS

[DAVID OLDHAM

[TERESA LYN TURNER

[MARK THOMAS

[BOBBY CLEVELAND

[LAUREE ELIZABETH

MARSHALL

[CHARLES W POTTS

[GEORGE W. WILAND, JR.

The American People do not vote directly for a Presidential or Vice Presidential Candidate!

Who are these Electors? Each state legislature designates how the Electors are

chosen in their state.

Oklahoma Political Parties elect Electors at their District Conventions and at the State Convention.

Usually, well-known Party activists are elected as Electors. The Party trusts them to vote correctly.

An Oklahoma Elector who fails to vote correctly (“faithless Elector”) is immediately replaced.

In Oklahoma there is a $1,000 fine for not voting properly.

Oklahoma has 7 Electors total, since we have 5

members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 2

U.S. Senators.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/how-the-electoral-college-works/

How many total Electors? 100 for 100 U.S. Senators

435 for 435 U.S. House Representatives

+ 3 District of Columbia Electors (XXIII Amendment)

= 538 total

50% of 538 = 269

269 (50%) + 1 = 270 = Majority

Candidates must have a Majority to win the Presidency!

file:///Users/User/Desktop/Election%20Map.webarchive

By what authority do Electors vote?

The U.S. Constitution:

Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 2

https://apgovernmentchs.wikispaces.com/Important+Clauses+of+the+Constitution

U.S. Constitution Article II (Article 2 – The Executive Branch)

Section 1

1: The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:

2: Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

What do Electors do?

Electors act according to detailed instructions in

Article II, as amended in Amendment XII, of the

U.S. Constitution on the Election of President and

Vice President.

The Electors of the Political Party of the Candidate

that wins Oklahoma’s popular vote meet in the

State Capitol.

Electors cast their Electoral Votes for the State.

When? The Electors meet in December 41 days after the

November election and cast their official vote for the Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates.

They meet the Monday after the second Wednesday in December. This year it is Monday, December 19, 2016.

http://freehdcalendars2016.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Calendar-December-2016-Png.jpg

2008 Oklahoma Electors-

Republicans

Electors meet in the Blue Room at the Oklahoma State Capitol

Signing documents

December 15, 2008

Official Republican observer- Carolyn McLarty and Governor Brad Henry

2012

The Electors record their votes on

six “Certificates of Vote,” which are paired with

six “Certificates of Ascertainment.”

2012 Electoral CollegeDecember 16, 2012

The Electors sign, seal, and certify the packages of electoral votes,

and immediately send them to the Federal and State officials. The

Secretary of State is responsible for the delivery of the packets.December 28, 2016 is the Deadline for Receipt of Electoral Votes this year.

2012 Elector Lynn Windel, Governor Mary Fallin, Observer- Carolyn McLarty

How are the Electors’ votes

counted? Winner-take-all in 48 of 50 states. The winner of the

popular vote in the state wins the Electoral Votes of that state.

A winner-take-all system is not federally mandated.

Maine and Nebraska divide votes by Congressional District.

If no Candidate receives a majority of Electoral Votes (270+) then the U.S. House of Representatives elects the President and Vice President.

The Congress meets in joint session for a final

count of the total Electoral Votes onJanuary 6, 2017

https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/roles.html

Why use the Electoral

College? The founding fathers were inspired to protect smaller states and rural

states from larger and urban state dominance.

State’s rights and state sovereignty were and are at stake.

For government to function, coalitions of political views must be formed.

They studied history and knew that pure Democracy was dangerous, so they applied a layer of protection in the election of our nation’s leaders.

James Madison worried about what he called “factions.” He feared groups of citizens who have a common interest would either violate the rights of other citizens or would harm the nation as a whole.

Historian Alexis de Tocqueville dubbed Madison’s fear as:

“the tyranny of the majority.”

http://www.factcheck.org/2008/02/the-reason-for-the-electoral-college/

The founding fathers knew best!

https://whatyouthoughtiwentaway.wordpress.com/tag/two-wolves-and-a-lamb-deciding-whats-for-

dinner/http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/john-adams

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, andmurders itself.There never was

a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.– John Adams

Pure Democracy is deadly!

https://whatyouthoughtiwentaway.wordpress.com/tag/two-wolves-and-a-lamb-deciding-whats-for-dinner/

Our Government is a

Constitutional Republic! A Constitutional Republic has a Constitution that

limits the powers of the government.

The government is structured, creating checks on

its power and balancing power between the

different branches.

The goal of a Constitutional Republic was to avoid

the dangerous extremes of either tyranny or

mobocracy…

http://www.stopthenorthamericanunion.com/NotDemocracy.html

https://ventrellaquest.com/2014/05/13/we-will-force-you-to-salute-the-flag-for-freedom/

I Pledge Allegiance

to the Flag of the United States of

America, and to the

REPUBLICfor which it stands,

one Nation under God, indivisible with

liberty and justice

for all.

The Electoral College History The Electoral College has worked in 58 Presidential

elections from 1788 through 2016.

In only one case has a candidate that received a clear majority of the popular vote lost in the Electoral College, and that was in 1876 when Rutherford B. Hayes defeated Samuel Tilden.

In four cases a Candidate that received the most popular votes, but less than a majority, lost in the Electoral College; 1824 Andrew Jackson had more popular votes of four Candidates, the House of Representatives elected John Q. Adams; 1888 Benjamin Harrison defeated Grover Cleveland, 2000 George W. Bush defeated Al Gore, and 2016 with Donald J. Trump defeating Hillary Clinton!

http://www.theindependent.com/opinion/another_opinion/electoral-college-successful-uniquely-american/article_b9ac80d2-31e5-11e2-acf5-0019bb2963f4.html

The Electoral College works The Electoral College has produced clear winners over 90% of

the time.

The Electoral College favors broad, national coalitions over intense regional popularity.

The Electoral College rewards greater geographic diversity.

The Electoral College makes Presidential Elections uniquely hard to manipulate.

Each state runs its own election.

The states elect the President and Vice President.

http://www.oklahoman.com/article/5526628?access=2a5874d80ab20840492c7fb6ec3b2194

The Electoral College works It is much easier to garner a majority of Electoral Votes

by state than a majority of the national popular vote!

Recounts are easier statewide than nationwide.

The system is decentralized. Each state is autonomous. The states elect the President and Vice President!

Densely populated urban areas don’t totally dominate the generally more conservative rural vote.

The Electoral College discourages voter fraud and can help make it less relevant.

Swing states change over time so all states are important to the Candidates.

Alexander Hamilton wrote of the Electoral College

that if “it be not perfect, it is at least excellent.”

The New York Times (NYT.com)Presidential Election results 2016

The New York Times (NYT.com)

Presidential Election results 2016

The New York Times (NYT.com)

Presidential Election results 2016

What about the National

Popular Vote?

The National Popular Vote is the grand total of all

the ballots cast across the country.

According to the AP's tally, as of November 29,

2016, Clinton got 64,817,808 votes (48.0%),

Trump, 62,510,659 votes (46.3%)(Source nyt.com)

(2,307,249 difference)

This is the second time in the past five Presidential

Elections that the national popular vote victor didn't

win in the Electoral College.

National Popular Vote

Interstate Compact The National Popular Vote Compact (NPV) is a

scheme to eliminate the Electoral College. It is an Agreement between Compact States to bind their Electors to vote for the winner of the national popular vote… regardless of how their state voted!

Millions of dollars have funded the NPV Compact effort from the Progressive Billionaire George Soros’ family.

Poorly educated citizens can easily fall for the distorted “every vote equal” mantra that the NPV Compact pushes.

Republicans favor the

Electoral College In August of 2011, The Republican National

Committee passed a Resolution Opposing the

National Popular Vote Compact with support from

Republican National Committee Members in all 50

States.

Under the National Popular Vote Compact Plan,

31 states would lose power. 19 states would lose

more than 20% of their power, and 10 states would

lose more than 40% of their power. Morton Blackwell, Leadership Institute

Republicans favor the

Electoral College Historically the majority of Republicans favor the

Constitutional Electoral College method of electing

a President and Vice President.

As of 2016, the NPV Compact has been adopted by

10 states and the District of Columbia, whose 165

combined electoral votes represent 30.7% of the

total Electoral College vote, and 61.1% of the 270

votes needed for it to have legal force.

All of the NPV Compact states so far have been

Democrat controlled states.

Democracy argument NPV Compact supporters say the Electoral College is

UNDEMOCRATIC!

That argument falls flat because a republic, or even “representative democracy”, is not a pure democracy. (remember the wolves and the lamb!)

Our federal government certainly is not a democracy. In the entire Executive and Judicial Branches, only two officials are elected—the President and Vice President!

All the rest are appointed- and per Article III- judges are appointed for life.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/view_from_chicago/2012/11/defending_the_electoral_college.html

"Republics decline into democracies and

democracies degenerate into despotisms."

- Aristotle (384-322 BC)

States who have passed the

NVP Compact

Listed with their number of electoral votes:

District of Columbia 3, Vermont 3, Hawaii 4,

Rhode Island 4, Maryland 10, Massachusetts 11,

Washington 12, New Jersey 14, Illinois 20,

New York 29, California 55,

Equals 165 electoral votes.

The New York Times (NYT.com)

Presidential Election results 2016

District of

Columbia 3,

Vermont 3,

Hawaii 4,

Rhode Island 4,

Maryland 10,

Massachusetts 11,

Washington 12,

New Jersey 14,

Illinois 20,

New York 29,

California 55,

The U.S. Election without

the Electoral College

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gNcvD2b1qL4/WDtcn78WygI/AAAAAAABiLs/5CAwrKS_jK4ahvBLTVl86npk61MutrFkwCLcB/s640/

michaelpramirez.com.jpg

BEWARE!!!

If the NPV Compact passes-

the Electoral College dies.

If states possessing 270 electoral votes pass The

National Popular Vote Compact,

it would become the law without ever passing 2/3

of Congress and without being sent to the states

for ratification by ¾ of the states as required to

amend the U.S. Constitution in Article V of the Constitution.

The National Popular Vote Compact is an end run around the Constitution.

World Series Baseball

example: The team that wins the World Series wins by

winning more games, not by scoring more total

runs! The Presidential Candidate that wins the

most states wins the election. The STATES elect the

President!

This year the Cubs and Indians both scored 27 runs;

but the Cubs won 4 games, the Indians 3 games.

The Chicago Cubs clearly won the 2016 World Series!

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/207995060/cubs-win-world-series-after-108-years-waiting/?game_pk=487637

BEWARE!!!

If the NPV Compact passes-

the Electoral College dies.

The National Popular Vote Compact passed the

Oklahoma State Senate in February 2014!

It was introduced into the Oklahoma House in

February of 2015.

It was referred to and died in the House Rules

Committee.

IT MUST NOT BE RESURRECTED!!!

May the Electoral College

live

The End

http://jesus.blogs.naplesnews.com/2016/02/28/happily-ever-after-dave-gipson/