Does your vote count? The Electoral College explained - Christina Greer — Transcript

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1. 0:00Translator: tom carter Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar
2. 0:15Most people have heard of the Electoral College during presidential election years.
3. 0:20But what exactly is the Electoral College?
4. 0:23Simply said, it is a group of people appointed by each state
5. 0:26who formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States.
6. 0:31To understand how this process began and how it continues today,
7. 0:34we can look at the Constitution of the United States: article two, section one, clause two of the constitution.
8. 0:42It specifies how many electors each state is entitled to have.
9. 0:46Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each presidential election.
10. 0:52How do they decide on the number 538?
11. 0:55Well, the number of electors is equal to the total voting membership of the United States Congress.
12. 0:59435 representatives, plus 100 senators, and 3 electors from the District of Columbia.
13. 1:06Essentially, the Democratic candidate and Republican candidate
14. 1:09are each trying to add up the electors in every state so that they surpass 270 electoral votes,
15. 1:16or just over half the 538 votes, and win the presidency.
16. 1:20So how do states even get electoral votes?
17. 1:23Each state receives a particular number of electors based on population size.
18. 1:28The census is conducted every 10 years, so every time the census happens,
19. 1:32states might gain or lose a few electoral votes.
20. 1:36Let's say you're a voter in California, a state with 55 electoral votes.
21. 1:40If your candidate wins in California, they get all 55 of the state's electoral votes.
22. 1:46If your candidate loses, they get none.
23. 1:49This is why many presidential candidates want to win states like Texas, Florida, and New York.
24. 1:54If you currently add up the electoral votes of those three states,
25. 1:57you would have 96 electoral votes.
26. 1:59Even if a candidate won North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming,
27. 2:05Vermont, New Hampshire. Connecticut and West Virginia,
28. 2:10they would only gain 31 electoral votes total from those eight states.
29. 2:14Here is where it can get a little tricky.
30. 2:17On a rare occasion, like in the year 2000,
31. 2:19someone can win the popular vote but fail to gain 270 electoral votes.
32. 2:25This means that the winner may have won and collected their electoral votes by small margins,
33. 2:30winning just enough states with just enough electoral votes,
34. 2:33but the losing candidate may have captured large voter margins in the remaining states.
35. 2:38If this is the case, the very large margins secured by the losing candidate in the other states
36. 2:43would add up to over 50% of the ballots cast nationally.
37. 2:47Therefore, the losing candidate may have gained more than 50% of the ballots cast by voters,
38. 2:53but failed to gain 270 of the electoral votes.
39. 2:57Some critics of the electoral college argue the system gives an unfair advantage to states with large numbers of electoral votes.
40. 3:04Think of it this way.
41. 3:05It is possible for a candidate to not get a single person's vote -- not one vote --
42. 3:10in 39 states, or the District of Columbia, yet be elected president by winning the popular vote in just 11 of these 12 states:
43. 3:18California, New York, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio,
44. 3:25Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia or Virginia.
45. 3:31This is why both parties pay attention to these states.
46. 3:34However, others argue that the electoral college protects small states
47. 3:38such as Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire,
48. 3:41and even geographically large states with small populations
49. 3:44like Alaska, Wyoming and the Dakotas.
50. 3:48That's because a candidate can't completely ignore small states,
51. 3:51because in a close election, every electoral vote counts.
52. 3:54There are certain states that have a long history of voting for a particular party.
53. 3:58These are known as "safe states."
54. 4:00For the past four election cycles -- in 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 --
55. 4:07Democrats could count on states like Oregon, Maryland, Michigan and Massachusetts,
56. 4:13whereas the Republicans could count on states like Mississippi, Alabama, Kansas and Idaho.
57. 4:20States that are teetering between between parties are called "swing states."
58. 4:24In the past four election cycles, Ohio and Florida have been swing states,
59. 4:29twice providing electoral votes for a Democratic candidate,
60. 4:32and twice providing electoral votes for a Republican candidate.
61. 4:35Think about it. Do you live in a safe state?
62. 4:38If so, is it a Democratic or Republican safe state?
63. 4:42Do you live in a swing state?
64. 4:44Are your neighboring states swing or safe?
65. 4:47Is the population in your state increasing or decreasing?
66. 4:51And do not forget, when you are watching the electoral returns on election night every four years
67. 4:56and the big map of the United States is on the screen,
68. 4:59know that the magic number is 270 and start adding.