Ryan’s Journey

The following article, kind of made me just say duh. The first part I am not too interested in, but the second half I am. The second half of the article talks about the electoral votes. Electoral votes factor into a system called the Electoral College, 528 people total from across the nation come together to cast the votes for President and Vice President. These votes by the people that represent the Electoral College are the most important part of electing the President and Vice President. This is so important because when you, your father, mother or I vote, we aren’t actually voting, we are just telling our district, which roll up to the state level, that if we had a voice, I would vote ___ for President. The Electors are supposed to be bound to what the totals of the state say, but there have been a number of cases when an Elector has voted not how their state told them to do.

Each state has a different number of Electoral Votes, the number of votes are determined by the number of Senators and Representatives the state has. Most states use what is called a short ballot, which I explained above, and the Elector for the state casts all the votes for that state for the candidate who win by majority or the plurality. Currently, Nebraska and Maine allow their votes to be split between candidates. What happens in these two states is the winner in each district gets the vote, and the overall winner will get an extra two votes.

Now, California is looking at an initiative that will do the same thing. The crucial thing about this is that California has the greatest number of Electoral Votes, with 55, the next state is Texas with 34 votes. In 2000 and 2004, Bush won just under half of the districts. If the initiative passes, the way campaigning in California will change quite a bit.

Technorati Tags: california, election, politics

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