Ok, in the school year round thread, we started talking about our govt not representing everyone. Ok, so i guess i dont really know everything, lol, bc i thought i knew what that was, but i googled it, and now im totally confused, lol. Help a hs mom out, bc my dc will surely ask me this, and i would like to know what im talking about. so who is it?? is that who picks our primary candidates? or is it just some people that equal the # of our representatives and senators for each state, that actually vote and their vote is the only one that counts? also, who picks who is in the primary?
In a Presidential election, American voters do not vote directly for the President. The votes we cast are known as the popular vote. This vote is actually for men and women called electors. These electors cast the official vote for the President. The names of the electors may or may not appear on the ballot. A vote for the Domocratic candidate is actually a vote for the Democratic electors. A vote for the Republican candidate is a vote for the Republican electors. Each state has as many electors as it has senators and representatives in Congress. In addition, Washington, D.C., has three electoral votes. The whole group of 538 electors is known as the Electoral College. In each state, the electors gather in the state capital on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. The electors of the party whose candidate won a majority of the popular votes in the state in the November Presidential election cast all the state's electoral votes at this December meeting. The votes are then sent to the president pro tempore of the Senate. On Jan. 6, following the Pres. election, both houses of Congress gather in the House of Rep. The votes of the electors are opened and counted. The candidate who receives a majority of the electoral votes is officially declared the next President of the U.S. The Electoral College was originally set up in the Constitution because those who planned our government were uncertain just how successful the people of the new republic would be in picking wise leaders. All of this info came from Crystal's civics book. Beth
No money decides who runs for president. Usually they get backing from a party and that is why you know them ie democrat republican. The Electoral College consists of the popularly elected representatives (electors) who formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States. Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each presidential election.[1] Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution specifies how many electors each state is entitled to have and that each state's legislature decides how its electors are to be chosen; U.S. territories are not represented in the Electoral College. The Electoral College is an example of an indirect election. Rather than directly voting for the President and Vice President, United States citizens vote for electors. Electors are technically free to vote for anyone eligible to be President, but in practice pledge to vote for specific candidates[2] and voters cast ballots for favored presidential and vice presidential candidates by voting for correspondingly pledged electors.[3] The Twelfth Amendment provides for each elector to cast one vote for President and one vote for Vice President. It also specifies how a President and Vice President are elected. The reason it was formed in the first place is because our government was trying to make things fair, this being a time when only rich men voted. I'm sure at that point it might have been more fair. It became unfair to the people when slavery ended and then males slaves were supposed to be able to vote, that is another story. Then women could vote. Since the voting demographic has changed then technically the electorial college should have either changed or been dissolved. However neither has happened. They are appointed by Legislature. To read how it all works you can go here.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Electoral_College#Original_plan
ok, she must be one smart girl, or im just so out of touch with school, lol. so im confused still, i need it in laymans terms. geesh, who would have thunk it, lol. and i took poly sci in college and loved it, but i obviously havent retained my knowledge, lol.
ok, first thing, how or when do we vote for the electors?? i dont get it? or does someone else chose the electors?
After the guys (and some girls not many) are appointed to legislation. Then the legislation picks people to be in the electorial college. The public does not vote on them. Most people have no idea who they are. Their job is to pick the president. States that have mainly democrat electors are democrat states, mainly republican electors are republican states, swing states are states with a split party or many undecided voters. They are the ones states you are waiting for on election night to make up their mind. Recounts happen when someone of the losing party is unhappy with the turn out and demands a recount. In the electoral college, each state gets one electoral vote for each of their members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are 538 total electoral votes and a presidential candidate needs 270 to win the election Every state has at least three electorial votes, some states with greater populations like California have more. So some states have less say then others. Here is a FAQ page http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#number This explains how many votes per state http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_electoral_votes_does_each_sate_have Hope this helps
In most (if not all) States electorates choose to vote for whoever won the popular vote of that state. that is why they can "call" an election on election day. The electors have not voted yet and still with a count of the popular vote for that state they know who will win. StoneFamily is correct that at one time the electorate chose the next President. Now they are more like cogs in a machine. States do have the option of splitting their electoral votes but most choose to put all their votes behind one nominee. The original intentions was to compromise between the States. There were large states that could completely control and dictate smaller states. The needs of Southern slave holding states were different then the Northern. Large shipping states with big ports could have ramrodded the other states. It is the same today. Different industries and lifestyles make it impossible for someone in L.A. to know or care what life is like for the Inupiaq in the villages of northern Alaska. To have the entire country controlled by a few cities when they are ignorant at best and could care less or hateful at worst towards those in other parts of the country would be tyrannical. Actually it already is. There are States that have very little say over who they can trade with and what they can do with their land. I know very little of how the American territories are treated. My guess is that they are there for the benefit of the larger states also after all they are afforded no votes and it is doubtful that larger states care for more then there own needs.
ok, that makes much more sense, so we elect the legislature, they appoint the electorates, one for each rep and senator, then the electorates do the voting. they normally vote how the population voted in their state, but do not have to. soooo, why even have a population vote?? do we make any difference in our vote? i guess i get the reasoning, but that kinda makes me sad, lol. does my vote count for the presidents race? so does that make my house or rep and senate votes more important??
No, the electorates in this present day are typically dedicated to vote a certain way. In most states the routine is that they vote for whoever wins the popular vote in your state. State procedures vary from state to state but the end result is pretty much the same. If you live in Idaho and more of the PEOPLE of Idaho voted for Candidate A then Candidate B then electorate will vote for candidate A. Does this make sense? I think if they tried to do something different a catastrophe would break out I can assure you.
Here is a basic article from Scholastics that explains it well http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3747995
frogger and stone, and mischickie, thank you, you have both helped me tremendously, lol. sorry such a silly ?!
ok, just looked at scholastic, and it makes perfect sense, so whoever gets the pop vote, that is who gets the electoral college votes, yes? i think i knew that, but with all the commotion today i just couldnt wrap my head around it, lol.
Scholastic has a book called "The People Pick A President" which we did this year. It's AWESOME! I learned so much about the election process that I never remembered Recommend highly. There's an election lapbook around somewhere too. On election day this past year we read the book and did the lapbook all day, that was school! LOL
