Bellwork

Group A

•Count up the total number of electoral votes for the whole country.

•How many votes does it take to get a majority? (half +1)

Group BList the 11 states with the largest number of electoral votes.How many votes do they have combined?

Everyone How many electoral votes

does Florida have? What percent of the total

electoral votes does FL have?

divide FL’s votes by the total number of votes, then multiply by 100.

538

270

29

About 5%

1. CA 552. TX 383. NY 294. FL 295. IL 206. PA 207. OH 188. MI 169. GA 1610.NC 1511. NJ 14

270

Who actually elects the President?

Electoral Vote

Electoral College = senators + representatives in each state, plus 3 for DC. 538 electors total in

the country Electors traditionally vote

for the candidate who won the most popular votes in their state.

270 votes needed to win the presidency

Popular Vote

Citizens who are eligible & registered to vote

1st Tuesday in November.

Doesn’t actually decide the winner

recommendation to the Electoral College.

Results of the 2008 Presidential Election

USA at night:

more white dots = more people

•Each county is colored red or blue based on the election results.

•The darker colors represent more people voting for that party.

•Each county is colored red or blue based on the election results.

•The darker red or blue colors represent more people voting for that party. Purple represents a split vote.

You can win the popular vote, but lose the electoral vote, AND lose the election.

This happened in 2000 George W. Bush

won the electoral college

Al Gore won the popular vote

Election Results in 2000

National ResultsGeorge W. Bush Republican 50,456,002 47.87%

271Al Gore Democratic 50,999,897 48.38% 266

Florida ResultsFlorida’s popular vote was very close, requiring a recount.

George W. Bush 2,912,790 48.850%Al Gore 2,912,253 48.841%

A Butterfly Ballot

Political Ideologies Tests http://politicalquiz.net/ http://www.usatoday.com/

interactives/news/politics/candidate-match-game/

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2012/quiz/

http://www.ontheissues.org/Quiz/Quiz2012.asp#sec0

http://www.politicalcompass.org/test