Electing an America President

The Electoral College

In a Presidential election, we actually vote for

electors from our state. They make up the

Electoral College, and they actually elect the

President, based on how their state voted.

The number of Electors for each state = the number of the State’s Representatives + Senators

• Kentucky currently has 8 electoral votes.• Total electoral votes = 538; candidate needs

270 to win the election

Memorable U.S. Elections

1876 – Hayes(R) v. Tilden(D) – Tilden got more votes, but lost. Congress intervened when 4 states turn in 2 sets of vote totals.

A deal is struck Democrats promised to vote for Hayes if Republicans promised to end Reconstruction in the South and remove U.S. troops.

The Election of 1912

• 1912 – Wilson(D) v. Taft(R) v. T. Roosevelt• (Progressive) – Republicans split votes

between Taft and former President Roosevelt, Wilson won.

Roosevelt got more votes than Taft, plus won 88 electoral votes. This was the most successful a “third party” candidate has been.

The Election of 1960

1960 – Kennedy(D) v. Nixon(R) – Closest election in recent history. JFK won by 120,000 votes out of 34 million. Also, first campaign to have debates televised live to public.

Election of 2000

Al Gore gets 51,003,894 popular votes to George W. Bush’s 50,459,211.

The electoral votes of FLORIDA were in dispute.

George Bush’s brother JEB was the governor of FLORIDA. Florida’s electoral votes were awarded to Bush.

VS

It’s not over yet!

Al Gore challenged the validity of the results in the Supreme Court.

The Court ruled that FLORIDA’s electoral votes must be accepted as certified. Bush won the electoral college vote 271- 266.