ELECTORAL COLLEGEIs it democratic?

Day #16

HOW DOES THE ELECTION PROCESS PROMOTE POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY & PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF THE MINORITY?

Essential Question

Electoral College Basics Popular Vote – the

true vote of the people as calculated from the general election

Electoral Vote – a representative vote from each state based on the popular vote; each state’s # of votes based on population

State constitutions determine how the electoral votes are cast

Winner Takes All Congressional District

Winner must reach 269 electoral votes

How do states usually vote?

Democratic Election Process?Gerrymandering

Drawing of electoral district lines in a way that gives advantage to a particular political party.

The practice is named after Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry, who submitted to the state senate a redistricting plan that would have concentrated the voting strength of the Federalist Party in just a few districts, thereby giving disproportionate representation to the Democratic-Republican Party.

Some of Gerry's new districts were necessarily odd-shaped; one district's outline, seen to resemble a salamander, gave rise to the scornful term gerrymander.

Gerrymandering Good?

The practice has persisted, and redistricting battles in state legislatures have often had to be decided by the courts.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries so-called "racial gerrymandering," which aimed to ensure minority representation in some districts, was a controversial issue in the U.S.

http://www.fairvote.org/redistricting

What are the qualifications to be an elector?

The U.S. Constitution contains very few provisions relating to the qualifications of electors.

Article II, section 1, clause 2 provides that no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

As a historical matter, the 14th Amendment provides that State officials who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States or given aid and comfort to its enemies are disqualified from serving as electors. This prohibition relates to the post-Civil War era.

Faithless Electors The Supreme Court has held that the Constitution does not

require that electors be completely free to act as they choose and therefore, political parties may extract pledges from electors to vote for the parties' nominees.

Some State laws provide that so-called "faithless electors" may be subject to fines or may be disqualified for casting an invalid vote and be replaced by a substitute elector.

The Supreme Court has not specifically ruled on the question of whether pledges and penalties for failure to vote as pledged may be enforced under the Constitution. No elector has ever been prosecuted for failing to vote as pledged.

Throughout our history as a nation, more than 99 percent of electors have voted as pledged.

How could Romney have won?