The U.S. Electoral College

Warm-up: How do weelect the president?

http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/electoral-college-2.jpg

Electoral College

body

electors

chosen

the

people

each

state

elect

the

U.S.

president.

**We

not

pick

our

President

direct

ballot.

Technically,

only

select

electors.**

Why was it Created?

People (then) were notknowledgeable enoughto select aPresident.(poorcommunications)

This was a check thatgave the states a voicein choosing thePresident

To maintain regionalbalance

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Electoral Votes per state:

What do the followingfour men all have incommon?

A. Andrew Jackson

B. Samuel Tilden

C. Grover Cleveland

D. Al Gore

The Answer

They all won the popular vote in aPresidential election but did notbecome President.

1824

Popular Vote

Andrew Jackson 43%

John Q. Adams 30.5%

Electoral Vote

Jackson99 votes

Adams 84

* Adams elected by House ofRepresentatives when Jackson didnot receive a majority of the Electoralvotes

1876

Popular Vote

Samuel Tilden51%

R. B. Hayes48%

Electoral College

Tilden 184

Hayes185

Winner: Hayes

2000

Popular Vote

Albert Gore48.7%

George W. Bush48.5%

Electoral College

Gore266

Bush271

Winner: Bush

What are the drawbacksto the Electoral College?

Encourages low voter turnout

Diminishes third party influence

Person with most popular votes may not win

If there is no majority winner in the ElectoralCollege, the election goes to the H.o. R andthere is a loss of separation of powers

Why low voter turnout?

The Electoral College is a winner take all system of deciding whoreceives a states electoral votes. Consequently, if a person gets 50.1%of the popular vote (in a two man race), he get 100% of the electoralvotes. Therefore, many people feel that their vote does not matter andchoose to not vote.

http://therightsideofaustin.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/screen-shot-2010-11-03-at-5-34-40-pm.png?w=500&h=462

Who would I vote for?

Number 1-10 in your notebook and get outyour Presidential Election Issues GraphicOrganizer from last week.

Purpose of Activity

Think about how you feel on theissues.

The point of this is to see who youside with—Obama or Romney.

You won’t see their names—just think about how you feelabout a certain issue. Youwill have a choice.

1. Education: How do weget students to succeed inschool?

Candidate A believes that students andparents should be able to choose where theywant to go to school and those who cannotafford too would be given vouchers (money)so that they can send their children to theschool of their choice.

Candidate B believes that the previouspolicies in education should be removed andthat the states should begin a reform programand reward effective schools and successfulschools.

2. Immigration: How do wesolve the issue of illegalimmigration?

Candidate C believes that we need to secure theborder and decrease illegal immigration. He believesthat we should focus on those illegal immigrants whoendanger the community and wants young peoplebrought here at a young age to earn citizenshipthrough the military or higher education.

Candidate D believes that we need stronger borderenforcement including a high tech fence and moreborder patrol in border states. He also believes thatgiving illegal immigrants the incentive of citizenshipthrough military or higher education will only make theissue of illegal immigration worsen. For legal citizenshe wants them to be able to bring their families overduring the citizenship process.

3. Foreign Policy: How dowe interact with countrieswe have conflict with?

Candidate E believes that in an effort to stopIran from producing nuclear weapons the U.S.should take greater military action within theregion and more trade embargoes.

Candidate F believes that in an effort to stopIran from producing nuclear weapons, that theU.S. should continue negotiating peace andalso use trade embargoes. He does not believewe should continue with troops in Iraq orAfghanistan.

4. Defense: How should wemove forward in regards tothe military?

Candidate G believes that we should reduce our nuclearstockpile and that we should not invest in making anymorenuclear weapons. He also wants to cut military spendingafter wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are over. He believeswe should recognize Palestine as a true nation only afterthey have become peaceful with Israel.

Candidate H believes that we should modernize ournuclear stockpile. He also believes that we should not cutmilitary spending. He does not want to recognizePalestine as a true nation because of the U.S. friendshipto Israel.

5. Abortion?

Candidate J: Prolife: Pregnanciesshould not be aborted in any case.

Candidate K: Prochoice: Pregnanciesshould be aborted if the women choosetoo.

6. Death Penalty

Candidate L: Death Penalty should beremoved from every state.

Candidate M: It is the right of each stateto determine if the death penalty isused.

7. Gun Control: Shouldthere be more restrictionson gun control?

Candidate N: No, but there should bestricter regulations for assault weaponsand gun storeowners should dobackground checks.

Candidate O: No, but gun storeownersshould do background checks.

8. Patriot Act: Should thegovernment be able towire tap phones?

Candidate P: Yes, for the security andsafety of citizens and to prevent futureterrorist attacks, the government shouldbe able to monitor these activities.

Candidate Q: Yes, but the governmentshould limit the scope of theirinvolvement in these activities.

9. Minimum Wage: Shouldwe raise it?

Candidate R: No, there are othereffective ways of decreasing poverty.

Candidate S: Let the states come upwith their own ideas about minimumwage.

10. Healthcare Plan: Whatshould we do aboutObama’s Healthcare Plan?

Candidate T: He believes that there aregood parts of it to keep and parts of itnot to keep.

Candidate U: He believes that all of itshould remain.

Create a T-Chart

Left- Liberal

Right-Conservative

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1.Circle the letters that you chose.

2.Put the number of letters you chose for the left sidein that column.

3.Put the number of letters you chose for the rightside in that column.

Where do you stand?

If you chose more answers from the left side you tendto agree with more liberal policies and would probablyvote for President Obama

If you chose more answers from the right side you tendto agree with more conservative policies and wouldprobably vote for Governor Romney

If you have a split amount in both categories, you wouldbe considered a more moderate (middle of the road)voter who could for either depending on the issue

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D2Zfz_-cn1Y/T9ormsgajFI/AAAAAAAAE1E/2r9fBx80DFg/s1600/Republican-elephant.gif

http://api.ning.com/files/JaAxmX6BQu4xSOwBHCvPhHrWS0HCiMKCbV43xW0iv1BaZHq90EXd89qa7AAHma1hrS51Jr0qRL0RyATRUvBEgNLHI3Bsz0Bx/DemocratDonkey.jpeg

Who are the candidates?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/BarackObama2005portrait.jpg/220px-BarackObama2005portrait.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Mitt_Romney_by_Gage_Skidmore_6.jpg/220px-Mitt_Romney_by_Gage_Skidmore_6.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Paul_Ryan_official_portrait.jpg/220px-Paul_Ryan_official_portrait.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Joe_Biden,_official_photo_portrait_2-cropped.jpg/220px-Joe_Biden,_official_photo_portrait_2-cropped.jpg

How do they feel aboutthe issues?

Using your graphic organizer, put an Ofor Obama, an R for Romney, or a U forundecided underneath the issue name,depending on who you agree more withas we go through the issues.

(We’re only going over the ones from yourgraphic organizer, not all of them)

Education: How do we getstudents to succeed inschool?

Romney believes that students and parentsshould be able to choose where they want togo to school and those who cannot afford toowould be given vouchers (money) so thatthey can send their children to the school oftheir choice.

Obama believes that the previous policies ineducation should be removed and that thestates should begin a reform program andreward effective schools and successfulschools.

Immigration: How do wesolve the issue of illegalimmigration?

Obama believes that we need to secure the borderand decrease illegal immigration. He believes thatwe should focus on those illegal immigrants whoendanger the community and wants young peoplebrought here at a young age to earn citizenshipthrough the military or higher education.

Romney believes that we need stronger borderenforcement including a high tech fence and moreborder patrol in border states. He also believes thatgiving illegal immigrants the incentive of citizenshipthrough military or higher education will only makethe issue of illegal immigration worsen.

3. Foreign Policy: How dowe interact with countrieswe have conflict with?

Romney believes that in an effort to stop Iranfrom producing nuclear weapons the U.S.should take greater military action within theregion and more trade embargoes.

Obama believes that in an effort to stop Iranfrom producing nuclear weapons, that the U.S.should continue negotiating peace and also usetrade embargoes. He does not believe weshould continue with troops in Iraq orAfghanistan.

Defense: How should wemove forward in regards tothe military?

Obama believes that we should reduce our nuclearstockpile and that we should not invest in making anymorenuclear weapons. He also wants to cut military spendingafter wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are over. He believeswe should recognize Palestine as a true nation only afterthey have become peaceful with Israel.

Romney believes that we should modernize our nuclearstockpile. He also believes that we should not cut militaryspending. He does not want to recognize Palestine as atrue nation because of the U.S. friendship to Israel.