Electoral College
question in the file
Electoral College
America uses a system to select the president that is unique in the world. As you know, rather than having a national election on election day, America has 51 separate elections (the fifty states plus the District of Columbia). Candidates for president, therefore, must work to assemble a group of state-by-state victories totaling 270 electoral college votes, as 270 votes is a majority of the total of 538 available electors.
The number of electors allocated to each state is the sum of its number of senators (always 2) plus its number of House members. So states with small populations and only 1 House member have three electors, while larger states have more electors. California, the most populous state, has 55 electors.We allocate three electors to the District of Columbia.
Under this system, small states have a say in the presidential election disproportionate to their size. The smallest (by population) state, Wyoming, has one elector per 192,920 residents, while Texas has one per 763,050 residents.
Heres each states total number of electors:
state
number of votes
Alabama
9
Alaska
3
Arizona
11
Arkansas
6
California
55
Colorado
9
Connecticut
7
Delaware
3
Dist. of Columbia
3
Florida
29
Georgia
16
Hawaii
4
Idaho
4
Illinois
20
Indiana
11
Iowa
6
Kansas
6
Kentucky
8
Louisiana
8
Maine
4
Maryland
10
Massachusetts
11
Michigan
16
Minnesota
10
Mississippi
6
Missouri
10
Montana
3
Nebraska
5
Nevada
6
New Hampshire
4
New Jersey
14
New Mexico
5
New York
29
North Carolina
15
North Dakota
3
Ohio
18
Oklahoma
7
Oregon
7
Pennsylvania
20
Rhode Island
4
South Carolina
9
South Dakota
3
Tennessee
11
Texas
38
Utah
6
Vermont
3
Virginia
13
Washington
12
West Virginia
5
Wisconsin
10
Wyoming
3
Total
538
Various arguments are made as to the desirability of retaining the Electoral College, as youve read. Whatever the arguments, we know that twice in the last 20 years, a majority of the national popular vote went to the loser of the election.
Whats your opinion? Given what youve read, should we keep the Electoral College? Should we try to achieve a workaround like the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact? Should we push to amend the constitution?
Remember you need to make your Initial Post of at least 250 words and you need to complete at least two responses the Final Posts
