The Election of the President

The Electoral College What a way to elect a President!

The President is elected by a system known as the Electoral College - the Framers of the Constitution developed this system, but it has changed a little since they met 226 years ago. Use the online presentation to get an overview of the Electoral College – and make sure you develop some questions! How did the Framers decide to elect a President?

The decision about electing the President was one of the most divisive for the Framers. Some proposals – and some big buts (hee hee):

 Have ______choose the President – but that may be too divisive, and it may upset the balance between the branches

 Have the ______choose the President – but then the President may be too indebted to the states to be a strong federal authority

 Have the ______choose the President – but the people didn’t have the necessary knowledge to make a wise decision, and/or everyone would vote for someone from their state.

"the extent of the country renders it impossible that the people can have the requisite capacity to judge the respective contentions of the candidates" George Mason, delegate from Virginia

After a committee discussed the issue, the Framers decided on a system in which the President would be chosen by ______- the original Electoral College

 each of the states would have as many ______as senators and representatives in Congress, chosen in each state  electors would cast ______votes for President – at least one had to be from someone outside their state  the person with the most electoral votes would be ______(if the votes were a majority)  the person with second highest amount of votes would be ______ if a tie occurred or nobody received a majority of the electoral votes, the House of Representatives would decide, with each state receiving one vote  the Framers intended the electors to be "enlightened", "respected", and "free agents" who would "deliberate freely" in choosing the nation's top two executives  the election of the President was intended to be done without ______or ______ANY QUESTIONS SO FAR? WRITE THEM DOWN, AND TYPE THEM ON THE ONLINE CHAT! How did the original Electoral College system change? It was pretty obvious from the earliest elections that something was wrong:

1796 - Two ______had developed – the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans - and a member of one party (Adams) became President while a member of another party (Jefferson) became Vice President – yikes!

1800 – Each of the two parties nominated a candidate for President and Vice President. Because the electors voted by party lines, each Democratic-Republican elector voted for Jefferson and Burr (each for President). Since they tied, it was sent to the House of Representatives, with each state getting one vote. It took the House of Representatives ______separate ballots to finally choose TJ!

**** It’s called the “The Revolution of 1800” – Why?

Results – two new elements for the Electoral College

1) ______for President and Vice President

2) ______pledged to vote for their party's presidential ticket

1804 - ______- made one major Constitutional change to the Electoral College - electors had to name their President and Vice President selections ______

Come on – you have to have some questions! Write them down, and add them to the chat! How does the Electoral College work today?

This is one of the least understood parts of the American political process - people DO NOT actually vote directly for the President - instead, they vote for presidential electors, as stated in the Constitution

 In each state, each major party (actually, many of the parties) nominates one person for President and one for Vice-President.  Each state has as many electors as ______ Presidential electors are members of each party who are ______to vote for their party's candidate for president.  In each state on Election Day every four years, the public votes for these electors - the presidential candidate (actually, the electors for that candidate) that receives the largest ______vote in the state wins ALL of that state's ______votes – WINNER TAKE ______! (except in NE and ME)  In order to win the presidency, a President must win a ______, or ______, of the electoral votes.  There are ______total electoral votes – a majority is ______

What happens if no one has a majority of the electoral votes? If no one has a majority for President, If no one has a majority for Vice President,

The electors then actually cast their vote for President and Vice President on the ______in December - these votes are not counted until ______, and the President in inaugurated on ______of the following year.

Is this confusing, or what???? If it is … what are your questions?

Play around with some of those Electoral College games online … yay history! Some Arguments for KEEPING the Electoral College

Some Arguments for DUMPING the Electoral College