University of Virginia Center for Politics
The Controversial History of the Electoral College
Rationale:
The purpose of this lesson is to help you understand why the Electoral College
was created by the Framers of the U.S. Constitution; to describe how the Electoral
College works; and to provide concrete examples of U.S. presidential elections
that were not decided completely by the popular vote.
Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Students will know what the Electoral College is, and how it works as a winner-take-all
system in the United States government.
Students will understand that a president must receive a majority of electoral votes from the
Electoral College in order to officially win the General Election – the popular vote, although
crucial, is not the only decider of an election.
Students will identify the reasons why the Framers of the U.S. Constitution adopted an
electoral college system to elect a chief executive.
Students will understand that the Electoral College has undergone change and scrutiny since
its conception in 1791, and has played a decisive role in the General Election process in the
United States.
Students will be able to identify and explain four unique elections that did not fit the ideal
process that the Framer’s created in 1791.
SPONGE ACTIVITY 1: PIZZA vs. ICE CREAM (popular vs.
electoral votes)
Vote on one of the following choices, ice cream or pizza. Close your eyes and
raise your hands to place your vote. The votes will be tallied on the board. We
will conduct the election again only this time students will get the number of
votes based on what you received. Comparison of results.


What happened? Are the results different? Why or why not?
Is this fair? Who has the advantage in the second election?
FOCUS 1 & GUIDED PRACTICE: HOW THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
PROCESS WORKS (Handout and Graphic Organizer/Flow Chart)
Instructions: Use the How the Electoral College Works graphic organizer/flow chart in
order to answer the following questions:
1. How many total electoral college votes can be cast in a presidential
election?
2. What determines how many electoral college votes each state receives?
3. How many total electoral college votes does Missouri have?
4. How does a presidential candidate receive or win a states’ electoral college
votes?
5. What allows for Washington, D.C. to have 3 electoral college votes?
6. What happens if there is a tie or no majority winner in the electoral college
voting?
7. What is the Electoral College magic #?
8. If you were a presidential candidate, where (which states?) would you
campaign?
FOCUS 2: WHAT’S THE SCOOP?
EXIT SLIP/CLOSURE: SHOULD WE KEEP THIS SYSTEM?
 Why would our Founding Fathers of the United States Constitution want to use
an Electoral College system versus a popular election to choose the chief
executive.

List an advantage of the Electoral College System:

List a disadvantage of the Electoral College System:

List one proposal in order to reform/change the current Electoral college System:
HOW THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE WORKS
STEPS TO BECOMING A PRESIDENT
STEP 1:
The electorate (voting people) cast
ballots for their choice for President of
the United States.
STEP 3:
A candidate must receive a majority
of the electoral votes to with the
presidential election.
• Today, a majority is 270 votes.
• The reason this is a winner-take-all
system is that if a candidate only wins
a plurality (not a clear majority, but
more than the other candidates) of the
popular votes in a state, he usually
wins all of the electoral votes of that
state! (SEE PIE CHARTS BELOW)
STEP 2:
These votes (popular vote) are tallied in
each state and the candidate who wins a
majority of the popular vote in that state
receives ALL of the electors (members of
the Electoral College). This means that the
candidate who wins the majority of the
popular vote in a state wins all of the
electoral votes from that state.
• A state’s number of electors is equal to its
number of representatives in the U.S.
House and the U.S. Senate.
• The total number of electoral votes
possible, including D.C., is 538.
STEP 4:
If no candidate wins a clear majority of the
electoral votes, the election is decided by
the U.S. House of Representatives. Each
state has ONE vote.
• This happened in the elections of 1800
and 1824.
STEP 5:
After votes from the whole election are
tallied: If a candidate wins the popular
vote in the national election, but loses
the electoral vote, he does NOT
become president.
• This happened in the elections of
1876, 1888, and 2000.
STEP 6:
The candidate that receives the
majority of the electoral votes
nationally (or who is voted president in
the House) becomes the next official
President of the United States.
• As few as eleven states can spell victory
in the Electoral College! (See map.)
ELECTORAL COLLEGE: WHAT’S THE SCOOP?
WHO: The Framer’s (creators) of the U.S. Constitution.
WHAT: The Electoral College Article III, Section 1, Paragraphs 2 and 3 in the U.S. Constitution.
WHEN: 1787 – 1791.
WHERE: Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
WHY: Representation, Fear, and Knowledge
Framers:
Why We Need Electors
Representation
Fear
Knowledge
> How do we balance representation between big states (like New York) and
small states (like Delaware) in Congress?
> The people oppose allowing the national government to decide a presidential
election! DECISION: Have state elections, and then have each state cast an overall
electoral vote for the winning candidate. This way, the national government would
not be deciding the winner.
> Framers believed that the general public did not know enough about
candidates or politics to cast an adequate vote. Why not keep the general
“masses” from directly voting for a President then?
> SOLUTION: A “fool-proof” plan. Have state electors cast official votes for
President and Vice-President after the popular vote occurred. Appointed electors
were to be men of character who were knowledgeable about politics, and could
select candidates who to represent the majority of the people.
> How were citizens supposed to know anything about candidates from other
states? There was no “mass media” (no TV’s!). Transportation and communication
were difficult. It was unlikely that even those citizens who were knowledgeable
about politics could be fully informed to make decisions about candidates from
other states. This provided a justification for having electors, because it would keep
the people from voting on candidates from their own state. (Because no candidate
would get a national majority if that happened!)
TODAY
> The election process is basically the same: voting allows a voter to “tell” electors which candidate the
voter wants the elector to vote for. There have been cases when “faithless electors” have not given their
vote to the candidate who won the popular vote in a particular state. Unfortunately, there is no law stating
that electors have to vote for the candidate that they originally pledged their vote to!
AN IDEAL ELECTION
› The Framer’s originally intended for the general election to work out in a certain way. Presidential
candidates were ideally supposed to be well-educated and well-informed men chosen fairly by electors who
had the same qualities.