| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
||||
| |
|||||
 |
Gore
and Bush: Policy Versus Personality  |
|
|
The Electoral College
|
||
| "Campaigns,
in fact, are a lot like real estate. Three things matter: location, location
and location." - Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, Fortune, October 16, 2000 In federal
elections in Canada we vote for our local candidate in our local riding,
choosing a person who usually represents a particular political party. The
party with the most members elected to Parliament (the majority of seats)
forms the government, and the leader of that party usually becomes prime
minister. This is not how it works in the United States. As a matter of
fact, foreign observers of presidential elections-and many U.S. voters-are
amazed to learn that presidents are not elected by direct popular vote.
Instead, citizens in each state vote for electors who are nominated by each
party and who are equal in number to their representation in Congress (the
Senate and the House of Representatives). The winning candidates make up
the 538-member Electoral College whose members cast the actual votes for
president. The results are announced officially on January 6 in a joint
session of Congress. To be president, a candidate needs 270 electoral votes.
Each state receives an allotment of one seat for each senator (all states
have two) and one for each congressperson (ranging from one, in small states
like Vermont, to 54 in California). The District of Columbia (Washington,
D.C.) receives three. The presidential candidate receiving the most votes,
that is, who wins the "popular vote" in the state, obtains the whole of
the electoral college vote of that state. The Electoral College was actually
a constitutional compromise between those who wanted Congress to choose
the president and those who wanted the people to decide by a direct vote
for the actual presidential candidate. It guaranteed the small states at
least three votes. It also pre-dated the rise of organized political parties;
when it was first created, electors were free to vote as they wished. Today,
electors pledge their votes to a particular party; this procedure is customary
but not actually binding. In 48 states and the District of Columbia, the
winner takes all. The only exceptions are Maine and Nebraska, who allot
some of the votes according to who wins each congressional district. Location, Location, Location As a result of this structure, candidates tend to focus on a winning combination of states rather than on a truly national campaign. In any election, some states immediately are seen (through polling) to heavily favour one candidate, while others are up for grabs. Campaigns concentrate on those swing states with the largest number of electors. In close campaigns, candidates spend enormous amounts of money and time wooing voters in the closest states. Campaign 2000 was obviously an extremely close campaign. As late as November 3 one survey was showing Bush leading in 25 states with 217 electoral votes, while Gore was leading in 13 states and the District of Columbia with 207 electoral votes. Twelve states with 114 votes remained far too close to call. Many of these closest contests were in states in the centre of the U.S. - Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas. As a result, both of the candidates spent most of their time and advertising dollars in this part of the country. The Mathematical Possibilities Can a candidate really lose the popular vote but win the presidency in the Electoral College? Not only is it possible but it actually happened three times in the 19th century. It is most likely to happen when a candidate loses by large margins the sparsely populated states (which have few electoral votes) but wins by very small margins the heavily populated states (but benefits from their greater number of electoral votes). It is even possible to have a tie in the Electoral College, in which case the House of Representatives settles the election, with each state delegation receiving one vote: for example, one vote for California's 54 representatives, and one vote for Vermont's one representative. The Implications of Constitutional Reform Over the years there have been more than 700 measures introduced to reform or abolish the Electoral College. None have been received with real enthusiasm. The two most often considered reforms-direct popular vote and proportional representation-both present problems. Constitutionally, the individual states have the right to determine who is a registered voter. Direct popular vote would require the creation of a national election register, forcing the states to give up that right-a state power they are hardly likely to relinquish. Proportional representation (all candidates receive electoral votes in proportion to the number of popular votes cast for them in each state) would reduce the influence of the heavily populated states, but increase the potential influence of third-party candidates to control the balance of power. This is seen as a real threat to the U.S. two-party system, which many Americans view as the true cornerstone of their political stability. Any reform would require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and these are very difficult to pass. Many political observers believe that it would require a real crisis before the Electoral College system was revamped or replaced. Discussion In Canada, a majority government can receive less than 50 per cent of the popular vote. If in a riding of, say, 100 000 voters Party A gets 40 000 votes, and the other 60 000 are split between three or four other parties, Party A wins the seat. If this is repeated across the country, Party A could have a majority of seats in Parliament but not necessarily a majority of the popular vote. As you have seen, in the United States it is possible for the president to receive the majority of votes in the Electoral College but less than 50 per cent of the nation-wide popular vote. Discuss the implications of these two situations. |
||
Comprehensive
News in Review Study Modules Using both
the print and non-print material from various issues of News in Review,
teachers and students can create comprehensive, thematic modules that
are excellent for research purposes, independent assignments, and small
group study. We recommend the stories indicated below for the universal
issues they represent and for the archival and historic material they
contain. |
||
