Do you know what the Electoral College is?
If you don't then you should keep reading, I'm going to explain it.
First, let me start by saying the President of the United States is not directly elected by the people! The popular vote of the entire nation does not count. This is something that you must understand, many people are under the impression that the popular vote counts for something. Pres. Bush won in 2000 because he had more Electoral votes than Al Gore, Gore won the popular vote by 500,000.
Article II, Section 1 created the Electoral College. Each state will have the same number of Electors as Senators and Representatives. For example, Texas has 2 Senators and 32 representatives, this means that Texas has 34 electoral votes.
Now if the Texas popular vote sways towards John McCain, then he will get those 34 electoral votes. There is a total of 538 electoral votes.
How many votes does it take to win the Presidential Election?
A majority. That means half + 1. In other words, 270 electoral votes wins the election.
It is possible to become president and only win 11 states. Here is what you need to win:
California (55 votes)
Texas (34)
New York (31)
Florida (27)
Illinois (21)
Pennsylvania (21)
Ohio (20)
Michigan (17)
Georgia (15)
New Jersey (15)
North Carolina (15)
With these 11 states you will have 271 electoral votes. Of course this could change depending on the mobility of the population.
What if there is a tie?
If both candidates receive 269 votes each then a tie breaker must happen. This will go to the House of Representatives. In the tie breaking vote each state will get 1 vote. A majority is again required, which means 26 votes. However, the house is only voting on who becomes president.
The VP will be chosen by the Senate.
What are the flaws with the current system?
The biggest, most glaring flaw is the lack of concern for the states with a lower population. There is not enough of an incentive for a candidate to visit a state that only has 3 electoral votes.
This is a map of swing vote states. Most of these states have a decent amount of Electoral votes. This map illustrates time and money spent by both John Kerry and George W. Bush during the last five weeks of the 2004 presidential election.
Another problem, what if the people choose a different president. For example, in 2000 Al Gore won the popular vote, but Pres. Bush won the election. Some believe that this doesn't represent the views of the people. All I can say is the founding fathers did not feel that the American people were intelligent enough, at the birth of our country, to decide on a leader for themselves.
Why can't we switch to popular vote?
We haven't switched to popular vote because nobody has given their congressmen enough grief about the current system.
Speak up if you want your voice heard.
Here are some good resources:
Stay tuned for more Lessons on Government.
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