Dead Forum Today

[knapplc]

I'm just glad that we can replace all the campaign ads with things that really matter:

 

CHRISTMAS COMMERCIALS!!

 

But you can't spell America without CHRISTMAS COMMERICALS.

[Ratt Mhule]

Someone explain to me what the electoral college is. Im ignorant about politics and Im not ashamed to admit it!

[Hammerhead]

Someone explain to me what the electoral college is. Im ignorant about politics and Im not ashamed to admit it!

 

They're a Division 2 school. I don't know much about their football team, but I'm pretty sure if they played Colorado they'd be favored by at least 21.

[Ziggy]

Someone explain to me what the electoral college is. Im ignorant about politics and Im not ashamed to admit it!

 

They're a Division 2 school. I don't know much about their football team, but I'm pretty sure if they played Colorado they'd be favored by at least 21.

 

Every time they play, the rules of the game are first to 270 wins. Sadly they are only allowed to schedule games 4 years apart, making home and homes difficult.

[knapplc]

What is the Electoral College?

 

 

The Electoral College is a process, not a place. The founding fathers established it in the Constitution as a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.

 

The Electoral College process consists of the selection of the electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress.

 

The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. Your state’s entitled allotment of electors equals the number of members in its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two for your Senators. Read more about the allocation of electoral votes.

 

Under the 23rd Amendment of the Constitution, the District of Columbia is allocated 3 electors and treated like a state for purposes of the Electoral College. For this reason, in the following discussion, the word “state” also refers to the District of Columbia.

 

Each candidate running for President in your state has his or her own group of electors. The electors are generally chosen by the candidate’s political party, but state laws vary on how the electors are selected and what their responsibilities are. Read more about the qualifications of the Electors and restrictions on who the Electors may vote for.

 

The presidential election is held every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. You help choose your state’s electors when you vote for President because when you vote for your candidate you are actually voting for your candidate’s electors.

 

Most states have a “winner-take-all” system that awards all electors to the winning presidential candidate. However, Maine and Nebraska each have a variation of “proportional representation.” Read more about the allocation of Electors among the states and try to predict the outcome of the Electoral College vote.

 

After the presidential election, your governor prepares a “Certificate of Ascertainment” listing all of the candidates who ran for President in your state along with the names of their respective electors. The Certificate of Ascertainment also declares the winning presidential candidate in your state and shows which electors will represent your state at the meeting of the electors in December of the election year. Your state’s Certificates of Ascertainments are sent to the Congress and the National Archives as part of the official records of the presidential election. See the key dates for the 2012 election and information about the roles and responsibilities of state officials, the Office of the Federal Register and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and the Congress in the Electoral College process.

 

The meeting of the electors takes place on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December after the presidential election. The electors meet in their respective states, where they cast their votes for President and Vice President on separate ballots. Your state’s electors’ votes are recorded on a “Certificate of Vote,” which is prepared at the meeting by the electors. Your state’s Certificates of Votes are sent to the Congress and the National Archives as part of the official records of the presidential election. See the key dates for the 2012 election and information about the roles and responsibilities of state officials and the Congress in the Electoral College process.

 

Each state’s electoral votes are counted in a joint session of Congress on the 6th of January in the year following the meeting of the electors. Members of the House and Senate meet in the House chamber to conduct the official tally of electoral votes. See the key dates for the 2012 election and information about the role and responsibilities of Congress in the Electoral College process.

 

The Vice President, as President of the Senate, presides over the count and announces the results of the vote. The President of the Senate then declares which persons, if any, have been elected President and Vice President of the United States.

 

The President-Elect takes the oath of office and is sworn in as President of the United States on January 20th in the year following the Presidential election.

 

 

LINK

[Ratt Mhule]

Someone explain to me what the electoral college is. Im ignorant about politics and Im not ashamed to admit it!

 

They're a Division 2 school. I don't know much about their football team, but I'm pretty sure if they played Colorado they'd be favored by at least 21.

 

[MLB 51]

I'm just glad that we can replace all the campaign ads with things that really matter:

 

CHRISTMAS COMMERCIALS!!

 

But you can't spell America without CHRISTMAS COMMERICALS.

Sneaky old man, very sneaky. +1

[Ratt Mhule]

So is it more important to win electoral college votes or popular vote? And is a winner picked based on total number of votes from every state or total number of states won?

[knapplc]

Electoral college votes. That's why Bush won in 2000 even though Al Gore got more votes.

 

Basically, you win the states with the large numbers of electoral college votes, and you win the election. That's what makes a state a "battleground state." Otherwise, everyone's vote everywhere, whether you're in Wyoming or California, would count equally. But they don't. A Nebraskan's votes count less than a Californian's because California has more electoral votes than Nebraska.

 

Basically, your vote in Nebraska doesn't amount to much. The scenarios by which Nebraska could decide the election are pretty unlikely.

[sd'sker]

So is it more important to win electoral college votes or popular vote? And is a winner picked based on total number of votes from every state or total number of states won?

first to 270 electoral votes.

[Ratt Mhule]

So why do people even vote if it doesn't mean jack squat? Just to say they expressed their democratic freedom?

[sd'sker]

So why do people even vote if it doesn't mean jack squat?

local elections, the principle of it, you live in ohio.

[GSG]

I'm just glad that we can replace all the campaign ads with things that really matter:

 

CHRISTMAS COMMERCIALS!!

 

But you can't spell America without CHRISTMAS COMMERICALS.

 

[zoogs]

The outcome of the election is decided by the electoral vote. The winner is picked based on which candidate meets a threshold of electoral college points.

 

There is IIRC, a 1:1 ratio of electoral votes and congressmen and the threshold is what, 271 or something thereabouts for the winner. Technically speaking, the electoral votes are cast by specific people, electors, and they do not necessarily have to honor the outcome of the popular vote from their state. However, 'faithless electors' are extremely rare, so for all intents and purposes, the winner of the popular vote in a given state gets all of that state's electoral points.

 

With two exceptions -- I believe it's Nebraska and Maine, but I could be wrong. These states have some further regional splitting going on so a portion of the electoral votes may go to either candidate, instead of "winner takes all", depending on the more local outcomes of the vote.

 

The electoral system has its flaws and the 'tradition for tradition's sake' system of electors is a little archaic (but has no effect)...but a lot of people paint it as a stupid idea, which it isn't, really. It is designed to represent a broad regional swath of opinions, giving some voice (even if not a lot) to the less populated states. Yeah, battleground states with major electoral vote counts are much more significant in comparison, but that effect would be exacerbated manyfold by a 'popular vote only' setup.

[zoogs]

Basically, you win the states with the large numbers of electoral college votes, and you win the election. That's what makes a state a "battleground state." Otherwise, everyone's vote everywhere, whether you're in Wyoming or California, would count equally. But they don't. A Nebraskan's votes count less than a Californian's because California has more electoral votes than Nebraska.

 

Well, Nebraska is actually pretty interesting. President Obama won one of Nebraska's electoral votes in 2008, making it a fairly unique state -- many other states that have heavy overall leanings one way or another wouldn't give such an opportunity to make a difference. In Massachusetts, for example. 100%, the Democrats are going to carry all of the electoral votes there.

 

There's actually talk that Obama may be in danger of losing that one electoral vote he had won in 2008.

 

One the "votes counting equally" topic, let's put it this way:

 

% of US population in Nebraska: 0.59% (June 2011 figures)

% of Electoral College Votes Nebraska has: 0.93%