1 of 17

The Electoral College

2 of 17

How do we elect a President?

  • The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows:
  • Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.

3 of 17

In other words…

  • President elected through Electoral College
  • Americans vote for electors instead of directly electing the President
  • After the election, the electors meet in each state to cast votes for President

4 of 17

How we count votes for the Electoral College

  • Number of Senators (2)

Plus

  • Number of Representatives (Based on Population)�

Let’s use Idaho as an example.

  • How many Senators does Idaho have?
  • How many Representatives?
  • How many electoral votes does Idaho have?

5 of 17

Example

Wyoming

Pop. 530,000

Rep. 1

Sen. 2

Total Electoral Votes 3

3 votes /

530,000 pop.

1 vote / 177,000 people

​

California

Pop. 37,000,000

Rep. 53

Sen. 2

Total Electoral Votes 55

55 votes /

37,000,000 pop.

1 vote / 672,000 people

6 of 17

How we count votes for the Electoral College

  • Now, it’s important to remember that most states have winner-take-all elections when it comes to the Electoral College.
  • That means that the person who receives the most votes in the general election receives all the electoral votes for that state.

7 of 17

8 of 17

Here is a comparison of the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

What changes do you see?

9 of 17

If you add up the populations of the nine or ten states with the larges populations, you have exceeded the majority of the United States population.

10 of 17

Cal. 55�NY 31�TX 34�OH 20�MI 17�PA 21�FL 27�Total 203

The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President.

11 of 17

12 of 17

Meet your Senators

13 of 17

Mike Crapo

14 of 17

James Risch

15 of 17

Meet your Representatives

16 of 17

Mike Simpson- Our District

17 of 17

Russ Fulcher- Other Half of Idaho