POLSCI 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Electoral College, Connecticut Compromise, Direct Election
12 Jun 2018
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Outline - The Presidency:
● Electing a President
○ Constitutional backdrop -
■ Great compromise
● First thing they agreed on is that president should be one person
(Virginia Plan)
● Disagreements: length of term and how to elect
■ Worried about too much democracy
● Rich, elite, landowners created rules
○ Worried about other groups
○ Qualifications:
■ Originally:
● 35
● Natural born citizens
● US resident for 14 years
● Did not set limits on term
○ Washington set limits on terms
■ Thought it was very close to king
■ Norm at time
● Election by electors
● Electors are based on House AND Senate
○ Electoral college system:
■ Electors
● People with prominent roles in parties
○ Chosen in multiple ways:
■ Appointment
■ Voted on
● Left up to states
○ Meet in December (following November election)
■ Mail their votes to the VP
■ VP and congress then count these votes when new
congressional session starts - technically when election
is over
■ Election in nov. → each state votes
● Do electors follow states wishes?
○ Depends on state
■ Some have rules in place that elector has to vote for
whoever won popular vote
■ Roughly 60% of states require electors to vote for
whoever state voted for
○ Exceptions - rare
○ 538 total election votes
■ Trump election 304 for trump 224 for clinton
■ Voted for people other than Hillary/Trump
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
First thing they agreed on is that president should be one person (virginia plan) Disagreements: length of term and how to elect. Thought it was very close to king. Electors are based on house and senate. Vp and congress then count these votes when new. Election in nov. each state votes congressional session starts - technically when election is over. Some have rules in place that elector has to vote for whoever won popular vote. Roughly 60% of states require electors to vote for whoever state voted for. Trump election 304 for trump 224 for clinton. 48 states - winner take all system. Win the whole state - every district. We vote within the state - vote for 1 or 2 of main candidates. In meantime, each party sets up slate of electors. These people all agreed to be democratic party or republican party electors. Whichever parties candidate wins the state - those electors are the ones that vote.
