Lecture 17 Outline of Last Lecture I. Political Parties-history and why we have themOutline of Current Lecture II. What is the Electoral College?A. How are the electors decided per state? III. States and ElectorsIV. Electoral College affecting votesV. Choosing Candidates according to the ConstitutionVI. Several Categories of PrimariesCurrent Lecture POLS 206 1st Editionl. The Electoral College is the way President is chosen, for citizens secondarily choose the President. The Electors are a group of people, currently there are 538 Electors (for 100 Senators and 435 Representatives and 3 from D.C.(because of the 23rd Amendment), for every state has an equal number of electors as Senators and Representatives. The decision forwho the President is decided by majority, at least 270 out of the 538)ll. Because of the way the number of Elector’s are chosen per state, there is a variation in number per state. Population is big factor. lll. Electoral College affecting votesa. The electors are chosen after each party’s primariesb. In the general election the political party that has the most favor also wins state’s electors (though that is NOT the case for Maine and Nebraska) c. At particular times, there is an Interstate Voters Compact, where states such as Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, Washington and D.C., do not really have electoral votes and more look at what the popular vote the rest of the country is going for. This method is some-what used, no too much though yet.d. There are special cases where there is no real majority among the states (majority is 26 votes for one candidate). If this happens, then the House of Representatives andthe Senate decide. So, it is possible for the President to be picked but not by state popular vote. An example is John Quincy Adams (1824) and George W. Bush (2000).lV. Choosing Candidates according to the Constitutiona. The Constitution does not give any specific rules for deciding candidates for the Presidential position. So, political parties decide that. This started in 1789 by party caucus (though in the beginning it was sort of biased, for it was the Wealthy and Influential Party Leaders that chose the candidates). This system made many people upset for the common person had little say. The nomination system changed to conventions for nominations (1824).V. Several Categories of Primariesa. Closed Primaries- (Oklahoma) essentially, party members are ONLY allowed to vote in party primariesb. Open Primaries- (Texas) anyone is allowed to vote in party primariesc. Blanket Primaries- (California) all candidates of all parties are on the ballot (like a wide-open primary)d. Non-Partisan Primaries- (Louisiana) all candidates are running in the same primary, no matter the
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