Name:_____________________________ Date:___________ Period



Name:_____________________________ Date:___________ Period:___________

Presidential Elections: The Electoral College

A. Interpreting Maps:

[pic]

1. How many possible electoral votes are there? ____538______

2. How many electoral votes does a candidate need in order to win a presidential election? ________270__

3. Name the ten states with the greatest number of electoral votes. (Include the number of electoral votes.

________

|1. |

|California |

|55 |

| |

|2. |

|Texas |

|38 |

| |

|3. |

|New York |

|29 |

| |

|4. |

|Florida |

|29 |

| |

|5. |

|Pennsylvania |

|20 |

| |

|6. |

|Illinois |

|20 |

| |

|7. |

|Ohio |

|18 |

| |

|8. |

|Michigan |

|16 |

| |

|9. |

|Georgia |

|16 |

| |

|10. |

|North Carolina |

|15 |

| |

| |

| |

| |

| |

| |

| |

| |

4. Name the ten states with the least number of electoral votes. (Include the number of electoral votes.

_______ Alaska – 3 Delaware – 3, Montana – 3, North Dakota – South Dakota – Vermont – 3

Wyoming – 3 Hawaii - 4, Idaho - 4, Maine – 4 ,New Hampshire – 4 ,Rhode Island –

5. What is the fewest number of states necessary to win an election? ___11_______

6. How many electoral votes does Illinois (IL) have? ___20_______

7. How many representatives does Hawaii (HI) have? ___2_______

8. How many members of the House of Representatives does Texas (TX) have? _____36_____

9. How many electoral votes does your state have? ____29______

▪ How many senators does your state have? ___2_______

▪ How many members of the House of Representatives does your state have? ___27______

10. How many electoral votes does Washington, D.C. have? ____3______

▪ How many senators does Washington, D.C. have? ______00____

▪ How many members of the House of Representatives does Washington, D.C. have? _____0___

▪ Why is this strange? What makes Washington, D.C. a special case? _____It is not a State. 23rd Amendment gave citizens of DC right to vote in Presidential Elections along with the same amount of electors as the least populous state.

11. If you were a campaign manager, where would you advise your candidate to go – California (CA), or Virginia (VA)? Why? California, because it has more electoral votes than Virginia.

12. Why would the states considered “leaning states” be significant to a candidate who is campaigning for extra votes? Because in the past those states have had a history of leaning towards voting for a particular party and if the candidate is of the same party, he/she can campaign less in that state and more in a state where he/she is not so popular.

C. Short Response

1. Why did the Founders decide to use the Electoral College to elect the President rather than allowing Congress or the people to directly elect the President?

As they were drafting Article II of the Constitution, the Framers argued about whether or not the president should be elected directly by the people. Many of them did not trust an average person’s judgment about such an important matter. They also thought it would be difficult for average citizens to become informed enough about the candidates to make a wise choice. They doubted an average person living in one corner of the country could learn enough about a candidate from another part of the country. On the other hand, many Framers were concerned about giving someone else the responsibility to choose, namely the Congress. That would give Congress too much control over another branch of government. They compromised by creating a system of electors for each state.

2. What determines the number of electors a state has in the Electoral College?

Each state has as many electors as it has senators and representatives in Congress

3. What happens if no candidate receives the majority of Electoral College votes?

If no presidential candidate receives the majority of the electoral votes, the House of Representatives chooses from the three candidates who have the largest number of votes.

4. Why was the 12th Amendment necessary? How did it change the Electoral College system?

Under the original system, a candidate for vice president could actually receive more votes than a candidate for president. The Twelfth Amendment (1804) required presidential electors to vote separately for president and vice president to solve this problem.

Article II of the Constitution established how the president was elected. It stated that each state legislature must appoint the representative number of electors and govern the voting process. During an election, these electors must meet and each vote for two persons as president. The person receiving the majority of electoral votes is chosen as president and the second most as vice-president. The 12th Amendment, like Article II, still establishes that each elector vote for two persons. However, the elector has to distinguish between a vote for president and a vote for vice-president. Thus it is made clear who an elector wants to be president.

5. Describe how the process of selecting the vice president was conducted prior to the passage of the Twelfth Amendment.

The person receiving the majority of electoral votes is chosen as president and the second most votes as vice-president.

6. How are electors selected to cast a state’s official electoral votes in the presidential election?

The process for selecting Electors varies throughout the United States. Generally, the political parties nominate Electors at their State party conventions or by a vote of the party’s central committee in each State. Each candidate will have their own unique slate of potential Electors as a result of this part of the selection process.

7. The Electoral College is a winner-take-all system. What does that mean?

That means the candidate who receives the most popular votes in a given state wins all the electoral votes for that state—even if the margin of victory is only a single popular vote!

8. List and explain three weaknesses of the Electoral College system?

• In all but two states, if a candidate wins the largest number of popular votes, that person receives all the state’s electoral votes. Critics argue that this system is unfair to those who voted for a losing candidate

• A third-party candidate could win enough electoral votes to prevent either major-party candidate from receiving a majority of the votes. The third party could then bargain to release electoral votes to one of the two major-party candidates.

• Election by the House raises three issues. First, states with small populations, such as Alaska and Wyoming, have as much weight as populous states, such as New York and California. Second, under the rules, if a majority of a state’s representatives cannot agree on a candidate, the state loses its vote. Third, if some House members favor a strong third-party candidate, it could be difficult for any candidate to get the 26 votes needed to win.

9. Do you think the Electoral College should be abolished? Why or why not?

10. List and explain three solutions to the Electoral College system.

• The candidate with the most votes in a congressional district would win its electoral vote; then the candidate with the most districts in a state would receive the two statewide electoral votes.

• Another idea is to assign electoral votes based on the winner of the nationwide popular vote.

• A third plan proposes that the presidential candidates would win the same share of a state’s electoral vote as they received of the state’s popular vote.

11. What is the role of the Federal Election Commission in the presidential election? (

It regulates campaign finance legislation.

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