Index : E : Electoral College

Structure Sub-topic of: U.S. Government Interesting Questions, Facts and Information There are a total of 30 general entries. Frequently Asked Questions & Answers There are 30 user-asked question matches ( goto ) Special Topics State Electoral Votes How Many Electoral Votes?

Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information

Electoral College

Why did the framers of the Constitution decide to create an electoral college?

The Electoral College (ladymacb29)


So people would not elect the President directly. The framers thought that the public was generally too stupid to vote for their own leader, so they were put a step away from the process.



Why did John Quincy Adams receive 1 electoral vote in the election of 1820?

The Electoral College (starman71)


One elector did not want James Monroe to sweep the electoral college.. The elector wanted George Washington to be the only president ever to be honored with a unanimous vote, so he voted for John Quincy Adams.



Who had the highest popular vote in the 2000 presidential election?

The Electoral College (starman71)


Al Gore. Gore barely edged out Bush in the popular, but Bush had a higher electoral vote.



Which slogan does not refer to the electoral crisis of 2000?

The Electoral College (starman71)


It's the economy, stupid.. "It's the economy, stupid" refers to the 1992 campaign when people were upset about the way George H.W. Bush handled domestic affairs.



Which race saw several slates of electors contested, controversy, threats, corrupt deals, and no president chosen until two days before inauguration day?

The Electoral College (starman71)


1876 - Rutherford Hayes vs. Samuel Tilden. There were two different slates of electors turned in for Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. A huge constitutional crisis erupted and corruption and bargains allowed Hayes to be chosen president.



Which groups are most likely to claim that electing a president by means of the electoral college is unfair? (Note: When speaking of small and large states, I am referring to population)

The Electoral College (starman71)


Democrats and those living in large states.. Smaller states benefit from the electoral college. A voter in Wyoming has a much greater chance of affecting the election than a voter in California. Even though California has a huge amount of electoral votes, it also has a huge amount of voters. Proportionately, the states with low electoral votes are better off having the electoral college. This favors states in the Rocky Mountains, Midwest, and Deep South, where the Democrats don't do so well. The Democrats are usually for gun control and welfare which turns off many voters in these states.



Which amendment gave Washington DC the right to vote in Presidential elections?

The Electoral College (ladymacb29)


23rd.



When do the *Electoral College* voters elect the President?

The Electoral College (starman71)


First Monday following the second Wednesday in December. So the electors sometimes cast their ballots more than a month after the general population votes.



What were the six states that Gore won that had at least 15 electoral votes each?

The Electoral College (starman71)


California, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania. Bush only won three states with fifteen or more electoral votes (Texas, Ohio, and Florida).



What is the total number of electoral votes?

The Electoral College (ladymacb29)


538.



What is the minimum number of electoral votes a state can have?

The Electoral College (ladymacb29)


3.



What anomaly of the electoral college existed until it was changed after the election of 1800?

The Electoral College (starman71)


The candidate who came in second was declared vice-president.. Each elector cast one vote for president and one vote for vice-president. In 1800, Thomas Jefferson and his proposed running mate Aaron Burr each received the same number of votes. Then it had to go to the House but Burr refused to yield. He decided he wanted to be president. After numerous deadlocked votes, Jefferson finally won.



Through the 2000 election (but not including 2004), who was the last presidential candidate to win a majority of the popular vote?

The Electoral College (starman71)


George Bush Sr.. This was a trick question. Al Gore did not win a majority of the popular vote. He didn't win more than 50 percent. In fact since 1844 when accurate records of popular votes were kept, 18 times a president has been elected without winning a majority of the popular vote. They are: James Polk (1844), Zachary Taylor (1848), Franklin Pierce (1852), James Buchanan (1856), Abraham Lincoln (1860), Rutherford Hayes (1876), James Garfield (1880), Grover Cleveland (1884), Benjamin Harrison (1888), Grover Cleveland (1892), Woodrow Wilson (1912), Woodrow Wilson (1916), Harry Truman (1948), John F. Kennedy (1960), Richard Nixon (1968), Bill Clinton (1992), Bill Clinton (1996), and George W. Bush (2000). This puts a serious kink in the plans of those who want to abolish the electoral college because oftentimes nobody even wins a majority of the popular vote.



Through the 2000 election (but not including 2004), who is the only person who lost the presidency even though he had more popular votes than anyone and more electoral votes than anyone?

The Electoral College (starman71)


Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson had a higher popular vote count and a higher electoral vote count but lost the election of 1824 because there were four fairly even matched candidates and so Jackson did not have a majority. Therefore, the House decided the election and voted for John Quincy Adams. Jackson came back 4 years later and won.



The number of votes a state gets is related to its...?

The Electoral College (ladymacb29)


population. The census (taken every 10 years) determines how many Representatives the state gets.



In order to replace the electoral college with another system, what must happen?

The Electoral College (starman71)


Two-thirds of the House must approve the plan, followed by two-thirds of the Senate, and three-fourths of the states.. Since the electoral college is in the Constitution, it would take a constitutional amendment in order to change it or repeal it. Over 700 proposed amendments to modify or abolish the electoral college have been offered to the House and some have even got the two-thirds vote to proceed before the Senate. But they have all died in the Senate and they would be absolutely crushed by the states if they ever got that far. Since three-fourths of the states have to ratify the proposed amendment, this means that it takes only 13 states to kill it. There are easily 13 states with small populations who do not want to give up the enormous power that they have. The electoral college is here to stay.



In light of the 2000 census results, how would they affect the 2004 election if Bush and Gore ran again and they each carried the exact same states?

The Electoral College (starman71)


Bush would win the election and have 7 more electoral votes than in 2000.. Bush would have more room for error this time around. Even if he were to lose one or two of the small states that he won in 2000, he could still win the election if he won the rest of the same states that he did.



In 2000, what were the only two states that did not operate under the "winner-take-all" method of allocating electoral votes?

The Electoral College (starman71)


Nebraska and Maine. 48 states and D.C. operate under the "winner-take-all" method, which means that whoever wins the plurality of the vote in that state gets all of the electoral votes. Maine has 4 electoral votes, of which they give one to the winner of each congressional district that they have (which is two) and two for whoever wins the state. (Nebraska does the same thing but they have 5 electoral votes.) So in theory, Gore could have won 3 Maine electors, but Bush 1 if he led Gore in a particular district. Gore won all of Maine's 4 votes, though. Opponents of the electoral college like the split system because it seems to be more representative. For example, California's 54 electoral votes went to Gore because he won the state, but in a spilit system, maybe Gore would get 30 and Bush 24 because that's closer to how the vote turned out proportionately. The thing is though, if one state wants to change the way they do it, the other states are not bound to follow suit. This is why most states leave it the way that it is because they do not want their own electors to cancel each other out.



In 2000, how many electors were to vote in the electoral college?

The Electoral College (starman71)


538. A candidate must have over half the electors in order to win. Half of 538 is 269. One more than that is 270, which is needed to win.



How many electoral votes does Washington D.C. get?

The Electoral College (ladymacb29)


3.



How many electoral votes does a candidate need in order to win an election?

The Electoral College (ladymacb29)


270. That's half plus one of the total 538 votes.



How is the number of electors for each state determined?

The Electoral College (starman71)


The number of House Members plus the number of Senators. Every state gets at least three because every state has at least one congressman plus two senators. D.C. automatically gets 3.



How does one figure out how many electoral votes each state has?

The Electoral College (ladymacb29)


Add the number of Representatives to the number of Senators. And since there is at least 1 Representative for each state and each state has 2 Senators, the minimum number of votes a state can have is 3.



Between the 1988 and 1992 elections, which state lost the most electoral votes?

The Electoral College (ladymacb29)


New York. New York lost 3 votes.



Between the 1988 and 1992 elections, which state gained the most electoral votes?

The Electoral College (ladymacb29)


California. California gained 7 votes!



Before Bush-Gore what was the last race where it was definite that that the winner of the popular vote lost the election?

The Electoral College (starman71)


1888-- Benjamin Harrison beat Grover Cleveland. President Cleveland came back four years later and won a second non-consecutive term. Many historians believe that the reason he lost in 1888 was that he promised economic reforms to southern states that turned off northern voters. Cleveland racked up huge numbers in the south but was crushed in the electoral college.



After 1968, measures to abolish the electoral college reached an all time high. Why?

The Electoral College (starman71)


Voters wanted to prevent someone like George Wallace from having a strong showing in the election.. George Wallace won several southern states on a platform that many considered racist. Fear spread that his states' rights platform could spread to more states than the south, even though the majority of Americans were opposed to his policies.

• How exactly does the electoral college work? ( goto )



• What happens when there is a tie in the electoral college and no candidate wins a majority of the electoral votes? ( goto )



• Do the US Electoral College votes, which vary from state to state, have an actual human counterpart? i.e. Are there actual Electoral College individual members? ( goto )



• Which US presidents were elected by the Electoral College after being defeated in the popular vote? ( goto )



• Has it ever happened that the Electoral College has overturned a state's winner? e.g. If Bush wins Kentucky, they overrule it that Gore wins it. How is favoritism of one party kept out of the Electoral College to ensure a fair election? ( goto )



• Who was the last person, other than the presidential nominees from the Democratic and Republican parties, to a receive a vote in the Electoral College? ( goto )



• Why is it that the United States uses an electoral college to elect the president? Why isn't a popular vote good enough? ( goto )



• What amendment changed the electoral system? ( goto )



• How many electoral votes does Virginia have? ( goto )



• How many electoral votes does it take to win the presidency? ( goto )



• How many electoral votes did George W. Bush receive in the 2004 presidential election? ( goto )



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