Electoral College Worksheet

The Electoral College Guest: Ron Elving, Senior Editor and Correspondent, Washington Desk, NPR 1. Why did the founders of the Constitution create the Electoral College instead of using the popular vote? 2. What is the total number of electors that the people vote for in a presidential election? 3. How many electoral votes does somebody need to get to win a presidential election? 4. Initially, how was the Vice President chosen? 5. What does Professor Elving say is the reason the Electoral College system has never been in serious danger of being dislodged? 6. What portion of the states need to agree in order to amend the constitution? 7. For discussion: what do you think? Should we keep the Electoral College? Do a popular vote? Or something else? The Electoral College ELECTORAL COLLEGE – Teacher Notes There is only one discussion question on the worksheet, and that’s because it’s such a massive topic. You can play Electoral v Popular (link on our website) in class the next day, a game where students learn the difference from a candidate’s perspective or a state’s perspective. In the podcast, Ron Elving lays out some of the pros and cons of each system, and explains the difficult process to change it. ANSWER KEY, timestamps of when answer is given: 1. They didn’t trust a popular vote, they didn’t want mob-ocracy, they wanted an elite group to consider the popular vote and decide [1:25] 2. 538 (including DC’s 3!) [3:45] 3. 270 [6:25] 4. Person who got the second-most votes was elected VP. [9:00] 5. Because it’s very hard to amend the Constitution. [11:52] 6. 3/4ths, or 37-38 states [12:45]