Mister/Madam President
| Step One: Making the Decision |
Step Two: Gathering Support |
Step Three: The Primary Process |
Step Four: The Convention |
Step Five: The Election |
Step Six: Electoral College |
Step 6: The Electoral College's Role
Scenario:
Today's date is October 15th. Election Day is November 7th, 2000. It's crunch time!
You are locked in a very close race. Political analysts believe it could go either way at this point. The Electoral College becomes the focus of your campaign.
The American voter does not directly vote for the President. Each voter casts a ballot for a slate of electors, people from the state who pledge to vote for the candidate listed. Each state gets a certain number of electors. The number of electors is determined by the number of Congressmen the state has in the House of Representatives plus the two Senators each state gets. For example, New York has 31 Congressmen in the House and two Senators for a total of 33 electors. New Jersey has 13 Congressmen. How many electors does it have? Connecticut has 8 electors. How many Congressmen does it have? These electors meet in early December and vote for the President. They have the final say on who becomes the next President.
The winning candidate needs the majority of electoral votes. In each state, the person who wins the popular vote (people's vote) receives all of the electoral votes from that state. So, if your candidate wins New York, your candidate gets all 33 electoral votes. However, it is theoretically possible for the candidate to win more popular votes and lose the electoral college vote. That is to say, the person with the most support among the people can actually lose the election. This doesn't exactly sound fair, especially to Grover Cleveland, who lost the Election of 1888 to Benjamin Harrison. More Americans voted for Cleveland, but Harrison won the electoral vote. The National Archives and Record Administration has a nice explanation of the electoral college. Here is a listing of the electoral votes each state receives:
| Alabama 9 |
Georgia 13 |
Maryland 10 |
New Jersey 15 |
South Carolina 8 |
Wyoming 3 |
| Alaska 3 |
Hawaii 4 |
Massachusetts 12 |
New Mexico 5 |
South Dakota 3 |
|
| Arizona 8 |
Idaho 4 |
Michigan 18 |
New York 33 |
Tennessee 11 |
|
| Arkansas 6 |
Illinois 22 |
Minnesota 10 |
North Carolina 14 |
Texas 32 |
|
| California 54 |
Indiana 12 |
Mississippi 7 |
North Dakota 3 |
Utah 5 |
|
| Colorado 8 |
Iowa 7 |
Missouri 11 |
Ohio 21 |
Vermont 3 |
|
| Connecticut 8 |
Kansas 6 |
Montana 3 |
Oklahoma 8 |
Virginia 13 |
|
| Delaware 3 |
Kentucky 8 |
Nebraska 5 |
Oregon 7 |
Washington 11 |
|
| District of Columbia 3 |
Louisiana 9 |
Nevada 4 |
Pennsylvania 23 |
West Virginia 5 |
|
| Florida 25 |
Maine 4 |
New Hampshire 4 |
Rhode Island 4 |
Wisconsin 11 |
There is a total of 538 electoral votes. The winning candidate must get 270 electoral votes.
Activity 1:
As a candidate, you need to assess your campaign. Where are you the strongest? Where should you spend your final weeks of campaigning and your funds?
Look at the electoral votes above. Which states do you need to win? Plan your strategy to get to the magical number of 270 electoral votes. Where are you going to campaign for the last two weeks? Which states will you buy advertising in during the last stretch? Look at the Electoral College Form and list the states you believe you must win to succeed in the electoral college.
All that's left now is the actual ELECTION DAY
