The Electoral College

Lecture Notes

Date:

Objectives
What is the function of the electoral
college today?
What are the flaws in the electoral
college?
What are the advantages and
disadvantages of proposed reforms in the
electoral college?

1. Why do we have the Electoral College

instead of direct popular election?
Some of the framers wanted Congress to choose the
president, but they feared Congress would have too
much power over the president if that happened
Some wanted a popular vote, but feared that the
country was too large, there wasnt good
communication systems or transportation, so they felt
the public wouldnt know enough about the
candidates
Sothey created the electoral college

2. What is the electoral college?

Voters do not vote directly for the President. Instead, they
vote for electors in the electoral college.
Each candidate creates a list of electors (people who will
cast their votes to determine the president) So in the last
election Obama has one list and Romney had one list for each state)

The number of electors for each state = their number of

representatives in congress

For example CA has 55 members in Congress so we have 55 Electoral

votes

All States, except two (Maine and Nebraska), select

electors based on the winner of the popular vote for the
State as a whole.

Some states could go either way Democratic or Republican

3. What do you think might be some of the

problems with the Electoral College?
1) It is possible to win the popular vote in the presidential
election, but lose the electoral college vote.
This has happened four times in U.S. history (1824, 1876, 1888, and
2000).

This happens because

Electoral Votes does not match population distribution
Wyoming gets 3 electoral votes for its population of 576,000, which
mean each vote represents about 192,000 people
Wyoming gets 3 electoral votes for 249,061 voters = 83,020 per electoral vote

California gets 55 electoral votes for its population of 38,041,430

which mean that each vote represents 691,662 people
California gets 55 electoral votes for 13,038,547 = 237,067 per electoral vote

Winner Takes All

Florida - Obama got 50.01% & Romney got 49.13% of the popular
vote, but Obama got all 29 electoral votes, even though 4.1 million
voted for Romney

November 7, 2000
Electoral
Votes
Popular Vote
% popular
vote

271

266

50,453,002

50,999,897

47.9%

48.4%

Flaws in the Electoral College (Continued)

(2) Nothing in the Constitution requires the electors
to vote for the candidate who chose them (but this
hasnt really been a problem)
(3) If no candidate gets a majority in the electoral
college, the election then goes to the House of
Representatives to decide
- Each state is then given one vote, they must pick from the top 3
candidates
-has happened twice (1800 &1824)
-This is becoming more of a concern as third party candidates gain
support, which could cause no candidate get the required 270 electoral
votes

4. How would you change the system?

Proposed Reforms
Every Congress since 1789 has proposed reforms to the
Electoral College

1.Direct Popular Election - Get rid of electoral

college altogether, voters would vote directly for the
President
2. District plan- each congressional district would select
one elector (just as they select representatives) & 2
electors would be selected based on the overall popular
vote in a State, so instead of getting all 55 CAs votes in
would be divided district by district

3. Proportional plan- each candidate would receive

the same share of a States electoral vote as he or she
received in the States popular vote. (get 75% of the
popular vote, get 75% of the electoral votes)
4. No Electors, but keep the electoral
system, each state would get the same
number of votes as the get under the
current system
5. National Bonus Plan would automatically
offer the winner of the popular vote 102 electoral
votes in addition to the other electoral votes he or
she might gain.

5. Why hasnt the Electoral College been changed?

1. It is a known process,
the proposed reforms
may have defects that
could not be known
about until they are tried

2. The electoral college

usually tells us quickly
and accurately who the
winner is

3. Difficult to amend the constitution, needs 2/3

vote in both houses
-Small states do not want to give up the advantage they
receive through the electoral college, so no amendment to
change the electoral college has ever been passed

Other arguments against changing the

electoral college
Would increase campaign work and expenses
right now a candidate can win by getting the 11 biggest
states
But with a direct popular vote the candidates would have to
visit a lot more places

Some argue it would weaken Federalism because

states wont be voting together as a whole
Some argue a popular election may allow more fraud in
voting

Answer the following Questions

1. What is the function of the electoral college
today?
2. What are the flaws in the electoral college?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages
of proposed reforms in the electoral college?