Election Question

[VulcanRider]

Each state gets a number of electors equal to its number of Congresspeople + Senators. Between the 50 states and District of Columbia there are 538 electors. The candidate who gets a majority of the electors wins. A majority of 538 would be half + 1, or 270. This Wiki article on the Electoral College does a good job of explaining it. 48 states plus D.C. have a winner-take-all rule. One candidate can win 51% of the popular vote, and they'll get 100% of that state's electoral votes. 2 states, Maine and Nebraska, are a little different -- I think their method splits the electoral votes to better match the popular vote.

[Bungleau]

Remember that the country is the "United States"... from the start, there was a forced mixture of individual states operating for a common good. As a result, accommodations had to be made to ensure all the states would be willing to participate. There are numerous arguments about whether federal decisions infringe on state rights or privileges, but that's a topic for another thread. Suffice it to say that the federal government is not supposed to do that

Part of the reason for this is that it wasn't practical for everyone to go to one place to vote, so they elected people (the electoral college) to go represent the wishes of the people. To put this in perspective, England is (according to my quick research) 50,346 square miles in size. The US is 3,535,935.... just a wee bit different.

First, each state is weighed equally. This corresponds to the Senate, half the legislative branch of the US, with each state getting two senators, no matter the size.

Second, each state is weight by population. This is the House of Representatives, with the states getting reps assigned by their population. Smallest is one rep, and largest is California with... what? 55, I think.

Grand total of all representatives is 435. Add that to 100 senators, you've got 535. Add Washington DC, which also gets two senators and a rep, you're at 538, half of which is 269. So it's a numbers game. 270 wins it, no matter which states you get them from. You can win most of the states but still lose. In fact, you can win just 11 states:

• California (55)
• Texas (34)
• New York (31)
• Florida (27)
• Illinois (21)
• Pennsylvania (21)
• Ohio (20)
• Michigan (17)
• Georgia (15)
• North Carolina (15)
• New Jersey (15)

That actually makes 271, one more than needed.

To make it fun, we have counties too Elections take place at that level as well.... along with the state, city, and units within the city (wards, precincts, boroughs, etc)...

[Felix The Assassin]

http://www.archives.gov/federal-regi...llege/faq.html

http://www.archives.gov/federal-regi...tificates.html

http://www.archives.gov/federal-regi...llocation.html

[SpiritWarrior]

I just hope to God they don't fix this one :-/

[Firestormalpha]

When was the last time an election was fixed? (with documentation of the event please?)

[Spirits Reborn]

I think SW is referring to the whole florida ballot incident last time?

[Firestormalpha]

I think someone already pointed out that it was due to a premature announcement on the part of the media, that the mis-understanding arose. Not sure where that post was, possibly in the "bloodbath" thread over in CE.

[wellard]

Originally Posted by Firestormalpha When was the last time an election was fixed? (with documentation of the event please?)

republican party officials are in jail right now for fraud in the 2004 election, how much friggen proof do you need? pull your head out of your arse and learn what is going on in the world ... strewth! Or do you need the judge to sign a written oath in blood delivered personally to your door

[Firestormalpha]

Wouldn't hurt.

[wellard]

Originally Posted by Firestormalpha I think someone already pointed out that it was due to a premature announcement on the part of the media, that the mis-understanding arose. Not sure where that post was, possibly in the "bloodbath" thread over in CE.

No! it was due to republican party officials getting jailed for rigging the election process in 2004 ....

the links are there, it was all over the media, all around the world in fact. Maybe FOX forget to broadcast it to the 'republican party of let's bury our head in the sand and ignore democracy or just act dumb brigade'

then again if FOX did not broadcast it then maybe it did not happen ?