Electoral College and Gerrymandering

How did they originally choose president and vice-president.

#1 Voter Getter = President, #2 Vote Getter = Vice-President

Downfalls of Popular Vote

1) Smaller states feel have less of a voice. 2) Rural Populations feel they have less of a voice. 3) Coasts vs the Interior of the country.

Downfalls of Electoral College

1) The majority vote getter does not always win. 2) Requires government oversight and creation of the college. 3) Creation of voting districts and gerrymandering. 4) Tends to favor large parties with more resources.

Elbridge Gerry

Created idea of Gerrymandering.

Popular Vote =

Direct Democracy

Number of Electors per State

Equal to Two Senators, Plus the Number of Representatives in the State as determined by census population numbers.

Why an electoral college?

Framers of Constitution didn't trust direct democracy. Feared a manipulation of the general public.

Gerrymandering

Process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power.

Electoral Vote =

Republican Democracy (Representative Democracy)

Electoral College

a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president.

packing districts

concentrating the opposing party's voting power in one district to reduce their voting power in other districts.

270

number of electoral votes needed to win the presidency

12th Amendment

separation of votes for President and Vice President allowing ultimately for parties and then presidents to choose their vice-presidential running mates.

cracking a district

spreading all your opponents out among districts in order to minimize their impact on an election

electoral vote

the official vote for president and vice president by electors in each state

Nebraska and Maine

the only states that do not use the winner-take-all system in the Electoral College, the winner of the statewide vote gets two electoral votes while the winner in each individual congressional district gets one.

popular vote

the votes cast by individual voters in a presidential election, as opposed to the electoral vote

538

total number of electoral votes in the electoral college