The Electoral College.Could a candidate WIN the vote and LOSE the Election It has happened before and it could happen again! How many votes does George W. Bush or Al Gore Noun 1. Al Gore - Vice President of the United States under Bill Clinton (born in 1948) Albert Gore Jr., Gore need to be elected President of the United States The head of the Executive Branch, one of the three branches of the federal government. The U.S. Constitution sets relatively strict requirements about who may serve as president and for how long. ? 270? We're not kidding. It takes only 270 votes--Electoral College votes--to be elected President. The Electoral College electoral college, in U.S. government, the body of electors that chooses the president and vice president. The Constitution, in Article 2, Section 1, provides: "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, is not a school. It is a group of citizens chosen by the voters of each state to elect the President and Vice President of the U.S. This system is spelled out in Article II, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution and modified by Amendments XII and XX. When people vote for President and Vice President, they are voting for electors electors, in the history of the Holy Roman Empire, the princes who had the right to elect the German kings or, more exactly, the kings of the Romans (Holy Roman emperors). pledged to those candidates. Each state's number of electors equals the number of its Senators and Representatives. The District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). has three electors. There are now 538 members of the Electoral College (see map, p. 20). Candidates for President and Vice President need the votes of at least 270 electors to win. Members of the Electoral College don't meet in a single place. Instead, they vote in their state capitals in December. In all states except Maine and Nebraska, the candidate who wins a plurality The opinion of an appellate court in which more justices join than in any concurring opinion. The excess of votes cast for one candidate over those votes cast for any other candidate. Appellate panels are made up of three or more justices. (the largest number) of the people's votes gets all of the state's electoral votes. This is the "winner-take-all rule." Because of this rule, it's possible for a candidate to win the popular vote and lose the Electoral College vote. It has happened in the past, and it could happen again. Let's look back to consider three cases of winners who lost and losers who won. 1888: Cleveland vs. Harrison The presidential election of 1888 led to many demands to abolish the Electoral College. Democrat Grover Cleveland was opposed by Republican Benjamin Harrison. On Election Day, Cleveland won 5,534,448 popular votes. Harrison won 5,443,892. But Harrison received 233 Electoral College votes to Cleveland's 168. The winner-take-all rule gave Harrison his victory. He won all the states that had, at that time, a large number of electoral votes. But he won some of these states by a small number of popular votes. Cleveland, on the other hand, won most of his states by large margins. But none of these states had a large number of electoral votes. The election sparked a debate about whether the Electoral College system was fair. "Shouldn't Americans directly elect their President?" people asked. 1876: Hayes vs Tilden Late on Election Night, in 1876, supporters of the Democratic presidential candidate, Samuel J. Tilden Samuel Jones Tilden (February 9, 1814 – August 4, 1886) was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency in the disputed election of 1876, the most controversial American election of the 19th century. , celebrated. Election returns showed Tilden ahead of his Republican rival, Rutherford Rutherford (rŭth`ərfərd), borough (1990 pop. 17,790), Bergen co., NE N.J., a residential suburb of the New York City–N New Jersey metropolitan area; inc. 1881. Several pre-Revolutionary houses remain there. B. Hayes, by more than 194,000 popular votes. But election results in Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, and South Carolina South Carolina, state of the SE United States. It is bordered by North Carolina (N), the Atlantic Ocean (SE), and Georgia (SW). Facts and Figures Area, 31,055 sq mi (80,432 sq km). Pop. (2000) 4,012,012, a 15. were in dispute. Unofficial un·of·fi·cial adj. Of or being a drug that is not listed in the United States Pharmacopeia or the National Formulary. counts put Tilden ahead in the three Southern states Southern States U.S. Confederacy government of 11 Southern states that left the Union in 1860. [Am. Hist.: EB, III: 73] Dixie popular name for Southern states in U.S. and for song. [Am. Hist. . Victory in those states would give him a clear majority of electoral votes. Because there were challenges to the election returns from those states, Congress appointed an Electoral Commission Electoral Commission (1877) Commission created to resolve the disputed 1876 presidential election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden. Tilden had won the popular vote and was only one electoral vote short of victory, but the Republicans to rule on the disputes. A majority of seats on the commission went to Republicans. The dispute became so heated that some members of each party threatened to seize control of the government by force. At the last minute, a deal was struck. Southern Democrats Southern Democrats are members of the U.S. Democratic Party who reside in the U.S. South. In the Early 1800's they were the definitive pro-slavery wing of the party, opposed to both the anti-slavery, left-wing early Republicans and the more liberal Northern Democrats. agreed to accept the Electoral Commission's decision. In exchange, Republicans promised to give Democrats a free hand in politics in the South. The Electoral Commission awarded Hayes all of the contested electoral votes. As a result, Hayes received 185 electoral votes and Tilden 184. Although Tilden had won more popular votes, Rutherford B. Hayes became President. 1824: Jackson vs. Adams To be elected President, a candidate must receive more than 50 percent of the Electoral College votes. Suppose no candidate gets a majority, what then? The House of Representatives chooses the President from among the top three vote getters vote getter n. Informal A candidate successful in attracting votes: a runoff between the two top vote getters. ! That's what happened in 1824. President Andrew Jackson faced nine challengers. The top three were John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, Henry Clay of Kentucky, and William H. Crawford of Georgia. On Election Day, Jackson won 42 percent of the popular vote, and Adams won 32 percent. Clay and Crawford got 13 percent each. At that time, 131 electoral votes were needed for victory. Jackson got 99, Adams 84, Crawford 41, and Clay 37. As a result, the House of Representatives had to choose between Jackson, Adams, and Crawford. Clay threw his support behind Adams. Deals were made. When the Representatives voted, they elected John Quincy Adams as President. Jackson supporters cried foul. They said that the will of the people had been defeated by dirty deals made in back rooms. Abolish the Electoral College? Three times, the most popular candidate did not become President. That's why the Electoral College should be abolished, say some Americans. They want the people to directly elect the President. But others say that abolishing the Electoral College would diminish the importance of the states in our federal system of government. Candidates would no longer have to worry about winning each state. What do you think? WINNERS WHO LOST * 1824: Andrew Jackson won the most electoral votes, but did not have a majority. The House chose the runner-up, John Quincy Adams, as President. * 1876: Samuel J. Tilden won 194,000 more popular votes than Rutherford B. Hayes, but was one short of an electoral majority. The House appointed an Electoral Commission that gave disputed electoral votes in four states to Hayes, making him the winner. * 1888: President Grover Cleveland drew 90,556 more popular votes than his opponent, Benjamin Harrison. But Harrison won because he got more electoral votes. |
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