US Electoral System (PDF)

**THE US ELECTORAL SYSTEM -- A MINI LECTURE** **- Every 4 years**, American citizens can vote to elect their next president \- The vote usually takes place in **November**, but the president doesn't take office until **January 20^th^** when the president is officially sworn in (they have to swear...

**THE US ELECTORAL SYSTEM -- A MINI LECTURE** **- Every 4 years**, American citizens can vote to elect their next president \- The vote usually takes place in **November**, but the president doesn't take office until **January 20^th^** when the president is officially sworn in (they have to swear on the Bible.) \- The US electoral system is **different from the French electoral system**. In France, we can all the votes of all the people, and the candidate with the majority of votes becomes president. This is what we call the "**popular vote**". \- In the US, it's a little more complicated because **citizens vote for which candidate they want their state to vote for** through a system called the **Electoral College**. Each state has a certain number of Electors, which compose this Electoral College. So, when you vote, you vote to decide which candidate you want your state to support. **- For example**: in Utah, Candidate A obtains 54% of the votes, and Candidate B obtains 46% of the votes. This means that in the Electoral College, Utah will vote for Candidate A. Utah has 6 votes in the Electoral College, so Candidate A will obtain 6 votes from this state. **The same process** happens in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia (where Washington, the capital, is). In the end, it is **the candidate with the majority of votes in the Electoral college who wins the election**. \- Essentially, in our example, this means that **the votes of the 46% of people who voted for Candidate B don't really count**. \- But the states can't all have the same power in the election, because their populations are very different, so **not every state has the same number of votes**. The number of Electors is determined by the population of the state. The **states with the biggest populations have the biggest number of votes** in the Electoral College. This is based on a simple formula: the number of congressional districts + 2 (the number of senators). So, essentially, the number of Electors is the same as **the number of members of the House of Representatives + the number of Senators** (which is 2 for all states). \- In total, there are **538 Electors**, which are divided between the 50 states and DC. \- Here are a few examples: (see map) \- To win the election, a candidate must win **the majority of votes from the Electoral College**, which is at least **270** votes. \- It makes it **possible for a candidate to win the elections, even though they have lost the popular vote**. This is what happened when Donald Trump was elected in **2016**. In reality, 3 million more people voted for Hillary Clinton, but because of the Electoral College, Donald Trump still won the presidency. \- Let's look at **California**. California has 54 Electoral College votes. The candidate who wins the elections in California then gets the 54 votes. That is true if he or she obtained 51% or 70% of the votes. This means that every vote above 51% doesn't really count in the end. \- This also means that the **most important votes** are in the states where the two candidates are very close. In traditionally "blue" or "red" states, the candidates are not going to spend a lot of time and money on campaigning, because a few thousand votes in these "swing states" are more important to win. \- If we look at what happened in 2016 when Donald Trump won the elections: (detail on the presentation)