Electoral College

By: Cynthia Griffin

 Electoral College Procedures
● Electoral college structure
○ How electors are chosen
■ Currently chosen though popular vote in each state
○ How it’s determined how many electors are in each state
■ Determined by number of seats in Congress
○ How many electoral votes are there total?
■ There are 538 electoral votes in total
○ How many electoral votes does a candidate need to win?
■ Candidates need a minimum of 270 votes to win
Electoral College Procedures Continued
● How the past electoral college was structured
○ How were electors chosen
■ Electors were chosen through either popular vote or legislative selection
○ Why did this change?
■ States felt it gave their governments to much power
○ What was it changed to?
■ The electors were all selected through popular vote
○ How was the popular vote administered?
■ Electors were chosen through either the general ticket system or the district system
○ What is the general ticket system? What was the district system?
○ Which system was preferred and why?
The U.S. Constitution
● Article II Section 1
○ Lays out the details of the Electoral College
○ Original layout
■ Electing Vice President
■ Process for incapable President replacements
○ Amendments
■ The 12th and 25th
○ What did Amendments do?
■ The 12th changed Vice President election
■ The 25th changed replacement of President
Establishment of the Constitution and Electoral College

● Reasons for creating the U.S. Constitution

○ Was created during an unstable time
○ Why electoral college was in the Constitution
■ Concerned about uneducated population
○ Article I
■ House of Representatives
■ Senate
■ The Great Compromise
Importance of Electoral College

● Balanced Federalism
● Reason for the formation of the two-party system
○ Checks and balances
○ George Washington’s Farewell Address

● If popular vote was used instead

○ Candidates would focus on larger states
○ Smaller states would be ignored
Gerrymandering

● What is gerrymandering?
● Reasons for redistricting
○ Creates competitive districts
○ Higher voter turnout
● Congressional districts
○ One-person, one-vote standard
● Redistricting
○ Patterns of redistricting in history
○ Regularized and unregularized
● Effects on ratios in the House of Representatives
● Effects on the Presidential Elections
Inequality in the Electoral College

● “Winner-take-all” methodology
○ Favored larger states

● Two-vote add-on
○ Disproportional representation of smaller states
Inequality in the Electoral College Continued

● Professor Riggs et al. experiments

○ 1 million trials

○ Done to test the system

■ “Winner-take-all” system

■ Two-vote add-on
Inequality of the Electoral College Continued

● Electoral college power

○ Southern states

● Majority not always the winner

○ Has happened in 5 elections
■ 1824
■ 1876
■ 1888
■ 2000
■ 2016
Inequality of Electoral College Continued

● Ratio of votes to people

○ Wyoming
○ California

● Lack of representation
○ Guam
○ Puerto Rico
○ Virgin Islands
Replacement of Electoral College

● Would need a ratified amendment

● Would need to be replaced with another system
○ runoff/preference voting system
○ Approval-based voting

● Flaws of new system

○ runoff/preference voting is tedious
○ Approval-based might not have been the guaranteed
winner
My Conclusion

● Electoral college is outdated

○ No longer serving original purpose

● Constitution can be changed

○ Was amended 27 times so far

● Framers made the Constitution for back then

○ Their Union has grown a lot since then
○ Has different needs

● Need a more current system

Work Cited
BOLINGER, BENJAMIN. “POINT: ABOLISHING THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE.” International Social Science Review, vol. 82, no.

3/4, 2007, pp. 179–182. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41887327. Accessed 27 Oct. 2020.

“The Constitution: Amendments 11-27.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration,

www.archives.gov/founding-docs/amendments-11-27#toc-amendment-xii.

“The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records

Administration, www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript.

Dixon, Robert G. “Electoral College Procedure.” The Western Political Quarterly, vol. 3, no. 2, 1950, pp. 214–224. JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/443484. Accessed 27 Oct. 2020.

Engstrom, Erik J. “Gerrymandering and the Future of American Politics.” Partisan Gerrymandering and the Construction of American

Democracy, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2013, pp. 191–206. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1gk086k.13.

Accessed 6 Nov. 2020.

Work Cited Continued
“Joint Resolution Excluding Electoral Votes of the Late..” Joint Resolution Excluding Electoral Votes of the Late, Aug. 2017, p. 257.

EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=21213151&site=ehost-live.

McCOLLESTER, MARIA LYNN. “COUNTERPOINT: PRESERVING THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE.” International Social Science

Review, vol. 82, no. 3/4, 2007, pp. 182–186. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41887328. Accessed 27 Oct. 2020.

Riggs, Jack E., et al. “Electoral College Winner's Advantage.” PS: Political Science and Politics, vol. 42, no. 2, 2009, pp. 353–357.

JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40647539. Accessed 27 Oct. 2020.

Washington, George. “President George Washington's Farewell Address (1796).” Our Documents - Transcript of President George

Washington's Farewell Address (1796), 19 Sept. 1796, www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=15&page=transcript.

Electoral College
By: Cynthia Griffin