Electoral College
When has this happened before? Who won popular vote and who won electoral vote?
2000; Gore won popular vote and Bush won electoral vote
How many electors are in the electoral college?
538
How does the electoral college system negatively impact the campaign process?
Candidates don't campaign in states they don't think they can win (a Republican won't waste time in New York and a Democrat won't spend time in Texas)
How is it possible for a candidate to win the popular vote but lose the election?
He may win by a very large majority in some states and get their votes, but lose by very small margin in large states with lots of electoral votes
Why is January 20th following a presidential election important?
President gets inaugurated
Why does it take 270 electoral votes to win a presidential election?
That's a majority of the electoral votes
Why did the Founding Fathers include the electoral college in the Constitution?
They didn't want to put lots of power in the public's hands
How are Maine and Nebraska different in electoral vote distribution?
They do it by congressional district
What is the "faithless elector" problem?
When an elector doesn't vote for the candidate they're pledged to vote for
How are electors chosen?
by their political party
Why are there 538 electors?
number of people in House of Representatives (435) plus 100 Senators plus 3 representatives for Washington DC
Who do voters actually vote for in presidential elections?
the electors
How do we determine how many electors a state has?
the number of their Senators (2) + number of Representatives
In 48 of 50 states, how are electors chosen?
winner takes all (whoever gets majority of vote gets all the electors)
