Civics_ Electoral College

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Arizona State University *

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101

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Political Science

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Apr 3, 2024

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docx

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Electoral College Use the link to The Guardian article attached to this assignment in Google classroom. 1. Explain how the Electoral College works: When Americans vote for a Presidential candidate, they actually are participating in what is known as the Electoral college. There are 538 electors, certain amounts per state, who are responsible for voting for the candidate on behalf of their state. A presidential candidate needs a majority of 270 votes to win. These electors are nominated before the election by political parties choosing their electors at their national conventions or by being voted for by the party’s central committee. Then the electoral college operate with the idea of a winner takes all system where the candidate with the highest number of votes in a state claims all of that state’s electoral votes. 2. How are the number of electors calculated? The number of electors are calculated based on the number of congressional districts they have, plus two additional votes representing the state’s Senate seats. 3. Explain the outcome of the 2016 election (popular vote vs. electoral college): Trump beat Clinton in Florida by a margin of just 2.2%, but that meant he claimed all 29 of Florida’s crucial electoral votes. With the margins being so small, it wouldn’t matter if Clinton's national vote lead, Trump was able to clinch victory in several swing states and therefore win more electoral college votes. 4. What is the minimum number of electoral votes possible? The minimum number of electoral votes is three per state. 5. Wyoming has 1 electoral vote per 193,000 people. 6. California has 1 electoral vote per 718,000 people. Do you think this is fair? According to the information up top, this means each electoral vote in California represents over three times as many people as one in Wyoming. So even 21with California being more populated they don’t give the same times as much as Wyoming. This seems a little strange and seems slightly unfair.

7. In 2000 George W. Bush won the state of Florida by 537 votes and won all of the state’s electoral votes, thus winning the election. He would lose the popular vote by votes. 8. The Electoral College creates battle ground states. These are the most crucial and important states that decide the election. What were the 6 important battle ground states that President Trump won in 2016? The six battle ground states that Trump won in 2016 are Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. 9. Explain your own thoughts on the current Electoral College system. What are pros and cons? Should we keep the system or use the popular vote? (3-5 sentences) I believe our current Electoral College System is a little unfair and odd. The fact that a president could have a majority of the popular votes but still not win because of the electoral system. I feel like this takes the voice away from the people in ways. Although some pro’s that should be taken into account are that it keeps smaller states apart of national politics and it makes it easier for candidates to campaign. Some cons that also need to be taken into account is the system is vulnerable to distorted outcomes through actions such as gerrymandering and the system could make people feel like their vote doesn’t matter. I believe that based on all the pro’s and con’s that we should replace the current electoral college system with popular vote.

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