PBU - Electoral College Lesson

Electoral College

The House of Representatives

The Electoral College was established by Article II, Section II of the Constitution as well as the 12th Amendment. It is the system used to elect the President. Each state is assigned a specific number of electors which is equal to the total number of senators and congressmen. For example, Georgia has 13 electors in the Electoral College. This is because there are 11 Representatives and 2 Senators. The 23rd Amendment gave 3 electoral votes to the District of Columbia.

When a voter participates in a presidential election, they are actually choosing the electors for their state. In all states except two (Maine and Nebraska), the candidate that wins the popular vote gets all the electoral votes for that state. This is known as "winner takes all".  

To win the presidency, a candidate must win a majority of electoral votes. There are 538 electoral votes on the map. The majority would be 1 more than 50%. This magic number is 270. You must get 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

Electoral College Map of the Presidental Election in 2012- The map shows the results of the 2012 presidential election. President Barack Obama won the popular vote in 26 states and the District of Columbia (denoted in blue) to capture 332 electoral votes. Mitt Romney won the Popular Vote in 24 states (denoted in red) to capture 206 electoral votes.

If a candidate didn't win a majority of the electoral votes, the 12th Amendment is referenced and the election is decided by the House of Representatives. This has only happened twice in our nation's history. Both Thomas Jefferson (1801) and John Quincy Adams (1825) were elected by the House of Representatives.

Remember these facts about the Electoral College:

  1. There are 538 electoral votes and the magic number is 270.
  2. The popular vote only matters in the state.
  3. The founding fathers were concerned about the President having too much power and the small states being ignored, so this was the system that was developed to protect against both.

IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS