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• Caucuses - meetings of party members to nominate candidates• Used in the earliest elections• Iowa is traditionally the first state to hold any

kind of presidential selection process, and they use the caucus.

• Caucuses require devoted followers who will show up at a meeting to declare their support.

• Some states still use the caucus method, but most now use the primary election to nominate candidates.

The Selection Process - Caucuses

The Selection Process: Primaries

• Reform promoted by Progressives in late 1800’s

• First held in 1900’s, but not widespread until after WWII

• Now used by majority of the states to allow voters to select their favorite candidate in a party-run election

National Convention Delegates 1. Proportional System (used by Democrats)- Candidates are given same proportion of state’s delegates as votes received in a primary.

4. Republican candidate needs 1,144 delegates to win nomination in 2012 at the party’s national convention.

2. Winner-Take-All System (used by Republicans)- Candidate that received the most votes in a primary receives all the state’s delegates.

5. Super Delegates - Party leaders given honorary seats at the nominating convention who are not bound by the primary vote

3. Democratic candidate needs 2,778 delegates to win nomination in 2012 at the party’s national convention.

6. The delegates will also vote on a statement of the party’s stance on the issues, called the platform.

Election Day – Tuesday after the first Monday in November

• The President and Vice President are not elected by popular vote. Instead, they are elected by presidential electors as specified in Article II of the Constitution.

• Each state has as many electors as it has representatives and senators in Congress. Texas has 38 electoral votes.

• Each political party in a state selects a slate of electors to represent its nominee on the ballot.

The Electoral College• When voters go to the polls in November,

they are actually voting for the group of electors that they want to cast their state’s votes for President and Vice President.

• The party’s slate of electors that gets the most votes in a state will cast all of the votes for that state. Exceptions are in Maine and Nebraska, who award electoral votes by who wins each congressional district, plus two votes for the statewide winner.

The Electoral College

• The total number of electors is 538 – equal to the number of representatives and senators, plus three votes that are given to the District of Columbia.

• If no candidate for president gets a majority (270) of the votes, the House of Representatives will choose the president.

• If no candidate for vice president gets a majority of the votes, the Senate will choose the vice president.

ELECTORAL COLLEGE (First Monday after second Wednesday in December)

HOUSE

SENATE

Voters cast ballots for

electors

Electors vote for president and vice president respectively

Top presidential candidate receives 270 votes or more

Vice presidential candidate receives 270 votes or more

President elected

Vice President elected

If top presidential and vice presidential candidates receive fewer than 270 electoral votes, decisions are made in the House and Senate.

Representatives vote for president (from top 3 candidates) by state. A majority of votes (26) is needed to win.

Senators vote for vice president (from top 2 candidates). A majority of votes (51) is needed to win.

GENERAL ELECTION (first Tuesday after the first Monday in November)

How President

s and Vice

Presidents are

Chosen

Votes in the Electoral College

Are electors bound by law to cast their vote for a specific candidate?

• Yes in these states: AL, AK, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, HI, ME, MD, MA, MI, MS, MT, NE, NV, NM, NC, OH, OK, OR, SC, VT, VA, WA, WI, WY. (those in gold are bound by “party pledges”)

• No in these states: AZ, AR, DE, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MN, MO, NH, NJ, NY, ND, PA, RI, SD, TN, TX, UT, WV.

Arguments for the Electoral College

• Contributes to the cohesiveness of the country by requiring a distribution of popular support to become president;

• Enhances the status of minority interests;

• Contributes to the political stability of the nation by encouraging a two-party system;

Criticisms of the Electoral College• The nationwide popular vote winner may not

win in the Electoral College (Al Gore 2000).• Too much focus on large swing states (states

not dominated by one party)• Discourages voter turnout in states

dominated by one party• Gives more per capita weight to voters in

small states• Discourages third parties – if you don’t win a

state, you get no votes

Abolish the Electoral College?

• A constitutional amendment would be needed to abolish the Electoral College.

• One such proposal called for awarding the office of president and vice president to the pair who received the most popular votes, providing that pair received at least 40% of the votes. This would avoid a run-off every election since it is rare a pair gets over 50%.

• If no pair received 40% of the votes, a run-off would be held between the top two pairs.