Electoral College
America uses a system to select the president that is unique in the world. As you know, rather than having a national election on election day, America has 51 separate elections (the fifty states plus the District of Columbia). Candidates for president, therefore, must work to assemble a group of state-by-state victories totaling 270 electoral college votes, as 270 votes is a majority of the total of 538 available electors.
The number of electors allocated to each state is the sum of its number of senators (always 2) plus its number of House members. So states with small populations and only 1 House member have three electors, while larger states have more electors. California, the most populous state, has 55 electors. We allocate three electors to the District of Columbia.
Under this system, small states have a say in the presidential election disproportionate to their size. The smallest (by population) state, Wyoming, has one elector per 192,920 residents, while Texas has one per 763,050 residents.
Here’s each state’s total number of electors:
| state | number of votes |
| Alabama | 9 |
| Alaska | 3 |
| Arizona | 11 |
| Arkansas | 6 |
| California | 55 |
| Colorado | 9 |
| Connecticut | 7 |
| Delaware | 3 |
| Dist. of Columbia | 3 |
| Florida | 29 |
| Georgia | 16 |
| Hawaii | 4 |
| Idaho | 4 |
| Illinois | 20 |
| Indiana | 11 |
| Iowa | 6 |
| Kansas | 6 |
| Kentucky | 8 |
| Louisiana | 8 |
| Maine | 4 |
| Maryland | 10 |
| Massachusetts | 11 |
| Michigan | 16 |
| Minnesota | 10 |
| Mississippi | 6 |
| Missouri | 10 |
| Montana | 3 |
| Nebraska | 5 |
| Nevada | 6 |
| New Hampshire | 4 |
| New Jersey | 14 |
| New Mexico | 5 |
| New York | 29 |
| North Carolina | 15 |
| North Dakota | 3 |
| Ohio | 18 |
| Oklahoma | 7 |
| Oregon | 7 |
| Pennsylvania | 20 |
| Rhode Island | 4 |
| South Carolina | 9 |
| South Dakota | 3 |
| Tennessee | 11 |
| Texas | 38 |
| Utah | 6 |
| Vermont | 3 |
| Virginia | 13 |
| Washington | 12 |
| West Virginia | 5 |
| Wisconsin | 10 |
| Wyoming | 3 |
| Total | 538 |
Various arguments are made as to the desirability of retaining the Electoral College, as you’ve read. Whatever the arguments, we know that twice in the last 20 years, a majority of the national popular vote went to the loser of the election.
What’s your opinion? Given what you’ve read, should we keep the Electoral College? Should we try to achieve a “workaround” like the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact? Should we push to amend the constitution?
Remember you need to make your “Initial Post” of at least 250 words and you need to complete at least two responses “the “Final Posts”