Page 11 - CALIFORNIA WOMAN - FALL EDITION 2024 - FINAL

ELECTORAL COLLEGE

What do you know about the Electoral College?

The popular vote does not determine the President. It is the Electoral College. Name in Bold shows
the winner.

1876

Name Popular Vote Electoral College
Rutherford B. Hayes (R) 4,034,142 185

Samuel J. Tilden (D) 4,286,808 184

In 1876 the number of Electoral votes to win was 185 as fewer States.

1888

Name Popular Vote Electoral College
Benjamin Harrison (R) 5,443,892 233

Grover Cleveland (D) 5,534,488 168

2000

Name Popular Vote Electoral College
George W. Bush (R) 50,456,002 271

Al Gore (D) 50,999,897 266

2016

Name Popular Vote Electoral College

Donald Trump (R) 62,984,828 304
Hillary Clinton (D) 65,853,514 227

The Electoral College was set up in the U.S. Constitution. To eliminate it would require a
Constitutional Amendment.

Each State gets the number of representatives plus 1 vote for each Senator and the District of Co-
lumbia gets three votes for a total of 538 votes. 270 are needed to elect a President. FYI California
has 54 votes (52 Representatives plus 2 Senators). Critics object to the inequity that, due to the dis-
tribution of electors, individual citizens in States with smaller populations have more voting power
than those in larger states. This is because the number of electors each state appoints is equal to
the size of its congressional delegation, each state is entitled to at least 3 regardless of its popula-
tion, and the apportionment of the statutorily fixed number of the rest is only roughly proportional.
On average, voters in the ten least populated States have 2.5 more electors per person compared
with voters in the ten most populous States. This is also why a Constitutional Amendment to elimi-
nate the Electoral College will not get through.