Basic Math – Political Election
Table of Contents
Politics Problems ........................................................................................................................................... 2
Problem 1: Presidential Election Electors ............................................................................................... 4
Problem 2: Number of Electors required ................................................................................................ 5
Problem 3: Elector Votes Needed ........................................................................................................... 6
Problem 4: Tie Votes ................................................................................................................................ 7
Problem 5: Survey Polls........................................................................................................................... 8
Problem 6: States need to win ................................................................................................................ 9
Problem 7: Equation for total votes ........................................................................................................ 9
Problem 8: Ratio of Males to Females .................................................................................................. 11
Political Election: Problem Answers........................................................................................................... 12
What Everyone Should Know
Page 1
Basic Math – Political Election
Politics Problems
Math is used in political elections for the US presidential election. The US
president is elected directly by an electoral college and indirectly by US citizens.
An electoral college is a set of electors (total 538) from the states and District of
Columbia. Each State shall appoint a Number of Electors, equal to the whole
Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in
the Congress. The Electors usually vote according to the citizen ballots.
CONGRESS – 435 Representatives, 100 senators, 3 electors from Washington
DC. The election for U.S. president is based on the candidate who gets a
majority of the electoral votes: minimal 270 of the 538 electoral votes.
Each state is winner take all, except Nebraska and Maine
(Nebraska and Maine are divided into Congressional districts and the winner of
each district gets 1 vote. The winner of the vote statewide gets the remaining 2
votes)
What Everyone Should Know
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Basic Math – Political Election
The following table shows the number of electoral votes (EV) to which each state
and the District of Columbia will be entitled during the 2012 presidential elections
State
Electoral
Votes
State
Electoral
State
Votes
Electoral
State
Votes
Electoral
Votes
Alabama
9
Indiana
11
Nebraska
5
South Carolina
9
Alaska
3
Iowa
6
Nevada
6
South Dakota
3
Arizona
11
Kansas
6
New Hampshire 4
Tennessee
11
Arkansas
6
Kentucky
8
New Jersey
14
Texas
38
California
55
Louisiana
8
New Mexico
5
Utah
6
Colorado
9
Maine
4
New York
29
Vermont
3
Connecticut 7
Maryland
10
North Carolina 15
Virginia
13
Delaware
3
Massachusetts 11
North Dakota
3
Washington
12
Florida
29
Michigan
16
Ohio
18
West Virginia
5
Georgia
16
Minnesota
10
Oklahoma
7
Wisconsin
10
Hawaii
4
Mississippi
6
Oregon
7
Wyoming
3
Idaho
4
Missouri
10
Pennsylvania
20
Washington, D.C.* 3
Illinois
20
Montana
3
Rhode Island
4
Total electors
What Everyone Should Know
538
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Basic Math – Political Election
Problem 1: Presidential Election Electors
The number of electors required to win the presidency is half the total of the
total electors plus one.
a.
What is the minimal number of electors required to win the
presidency?
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Basic Math – Political Election
Problem 2: Number of Electors required
John and Jim are running for president of the US. Jim had 15 more electors than
John prior to adding the DC electors. All of DC electors went to John.
a. How many electors did john have?
b. How many electors did Jim have?
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Basic Math – Political Election
Problem 3: Elector Votes Needed
Carol is running for the US president, she has 30 electors.
a. What are the minimal electors number needed to win the presidency?
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Basic Math – Political Election
Problem 4: Tie Votes
Carol and John tied for president of the US.
a. How many elector votes did they have?
What Everyone Should Know
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Basic Math – Political Election
Problem 5: Survey Polls
A survey was taken in Virginia to determine whether Hillary or John was
leading the presidential race in that state. 1800 people were surveyed.
Hillary received 52% and John receive 44 % and 4% were undecided.
a. How many votes did Hillary get?
b. How many votes did john get?
c. How many votes were undecided?
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Basic Math – Political Election
Problem 6: States need to win
Mary is running for president. She won California, Florida, and Texas.
a. What percentage of the total elector votes did she win?
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Basic Math – Political Election
Problem 7: Equation for X/2
A candidate must win at least one more than half of all electoral votes to be
elected President of the United States. The candidate must win at least 270
electoral votes.
a. Write an equation the represents X/2, where X is the number of
candidate votes.
What Everyone Should Know
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Basic Math – Political Election
Problem 8: Ratio of Males to Females
Out of the 538 electors, 100 are women...
a. What percentage of the total electors are men? (round to nearest tenth)
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Basic Math – Political Election
Political Election: Problem Answers
1a: 270
2a: john = 263
2b: Jim =275
3a: 240
4a:569
5a:.936
5b: 792
5c: 72
6a: 27%
7a: X/2 = 270 – 1
8a: 81%
What Everyone Should Know
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