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Course: US government and civics > Unit 9
Lesson 1: American civics- PPACA or "Obamacare"
- The fiscal cliff
- More fiscal cliff analysis
- The Electoral College
- Sal teaches Grover about the electoral college
- Primaries and caucuses
- Deficit and debt ceiling
- Government's financial condition
- Social security intro
- FICA tax
- Medicare sustainability
- SOPA and PIPA
- Pension obligations
- Illinois pension obligations
- Introduction to the FAFSA
- History of the Democratic Party
- History of the Republican Party
- Constitutional powers of the president
- Presidential precedents of George Washington
- The President as Commander-in-Chief
- Expansion of presidential power
- Why was George Washington the first president?
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Sal teaches Grover about the electoral college
Grover learns about the U.S. electoral system from Sal Khan. They discuss how citizens vote for electors, not directly for the president. The number of electors, or 'chicken votes' as they call them, equals the number of Congresspeople per state. To win, a candidate needs over half of the total 538 votes.
Want to join the conversation?
Wait, do you actually need more than half of the electoral votes? What if there are more than 2 candidates? Of the 538, can't you have A win 200, B win 188, and C win 150, and have A win with fewer than 270 votes?(16 votes)
What happens if no presidential candidate gets 270 Electoral votes?
If no candidate receives a majority of Electoral votes, the House of Representatives elects the President from the 3 Presidential candidates who received the most Electoral votes. Each state delegation has one vote. The Senate would elect the Vice President from the 2 Vice Presidential candidates with the most Electoral votes. Each Senator would cast one vote for Vice President. If the House of Representatives fails to elect a President by Inauguration Day, the Vice-President Elect serves as acting President until the deadlock is resolved in the House.
source: https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#no270(17 votes)
- So... I was pretty sure our founding fathers put together a Republic... where exactly did "indirect democracy" come from?(8 votes)
This part of the video is somewhat inaccurate. In a direct democracy, citizens vote directly on policy initiatives. In an indirect democracy, or republic, citizens elect representatives to make laws for them. Indirect democracy and republic are more or less the same thing.(17 votes)
Can a candidate win less than 25 of the 50 states and still become president? Is this possible with the electoral vote system?(5 votes)
Yes, In the current election you could do it with far fewer: 11. You can try your combinations here: http://www.270towin.com(5 votes)
The problem with the system we have is that one candidate or another will collect that magic number of 270 electoral votes early on with our modern system of communication that never existed back when the Founding Fathers created the United States so why would people living in states far out West even bother to vote since the election would be "over" before their polls even close?(2 votes)
The candidates still need those Western electoral votes to win. States like California with lots of votes are very important in the election.(2 votes)
- At1:33Sal says "in most states" the candidate who receives the majority of the popular votes receives all of the electoral votes in that state. What does he mean by "in most states"?(1 vote)
- Most states do follow the 'winner take all' method for how they give out electoral votes. However, we have 2 states that use a different system -- Maine and Nebraska. They do it based on winning each congressional district.(4 votes)
What about south and north Dakota do they count as 1 for the college or 2 states(1 vote)
North and South Dakota are separate states and have their votes counted separately.(5 votes)
- Does this system of indirect democracy go with the idea of pluralist theory and direct democracy with participatory democracy so the electors being elected would represent direct and later on when the electors vote the president it's indirect?(2 votes)
what about smaller states like Iowa? Would they only have 6 senators and representatives counting electoral votes? And how many people does the state need to have 6 electoral votes on each party?(2 votes)- 6 on each party, so 12 total, correct? Well, since each state has 2 U.S. Senators, to get to 12 total electoral votes a state would need to have 10 U.S. representatives.
BUT! A quick search online tells me that Iowa has 6 electoral votes. Thus, Iowa has 2 U.S. Senators and 4 U.S. Representatives. So yes, you're exactly right.(1 vote)
If you lose an election then will you be able to run again? If not then why would you not be allowed to run again?(1 vote)- There's no restriction on running for president a second time if you lose! Several individuals ran for president unsuccessfully more than once in their lifetimes, such as the nineteenth-century politician Henry Clay (whom Abraham Lincoln greatly admired as a young man). One more recent example is Richard Nixon, who lost to John F. Kennedy in the election of 1960, but won the presidency in the election of 1968.
Although there are no official restrictions, the major political parties may not feel it is a good bet to run a candidate who has lost in a previous election. The Democratic or Republican Party may believe that a candidate who lost a presidential election does not have enough popular support to win the presidency in another contest, and choose another candidate.(3 votes)
- The video says that the number of of electors each State has corresponds to the number of senators and congressmen each state has. But how is this number decided? Why 55 for California, 29 for Florida?. Does this number fluctuates based on population increase or decrease or is it a fixed number?(1 vote)
it is loosely tied to population. California has 53 congressmen/women. Each state has 2 senators. thus they have 55 electoral votes. The congressional districts (which decide how many congressmen/women a state receives) is updated per the most recent Census. The Census is issues once every ten years. Does that help address your question?(2 votes)
1:33Video transcript
- Vote for me. Vote for cute and adorable Grover. I am pro-ABCs and for one, two, threes. Plus I promise I have no
skeletons in my closet. I do not even have one in my body. - Hey, Grover, what are you doing? - Oh, hello there, Sal Khan. I am just running for president of the United States of America. I heard there was an upcoming election, so I figured, ah, why not? - Well, that's great, Grover. - Yeah! - Maybe we can help more people vote. - Oh, that would be terrific. So exactly how many
votes do I need to win? - Well, you know about the
electoral college, right? - Of course, Sal, baby. - I know exactly what the electrical-- - Electoral. - Electoral college is. - Great, so why don't
we explain it together for those who don't know? - Oh, why certainly. What a brilliant idea. - Umm. Why don't you start us off? - Sure. In a direct democracy, I as a citizen will vote for a candidate. And whichever candidate
has the most popular votes in the country, they
will become president. But we do not have a direct democracy. We have an indirect democracy. So what happens is, is I vote in my state. I live in California. And whichever candidate gets
the most votes in California will get all of California's
55 electoral votes. And that's true in most states. Whoever gets the most votes in that state gets all of the votes for that state. And that number comes from
the number of Congresspeople California has. - Um, dah, I am not following you. - So how can I explain it in a way that you might understand? - Chickens. (chickens clucking) I know chickens. Chickens, they are my biggest demo. (chickens clucking) - OK, chickens. So instead of electors,
we'll say chickens. Instead of the electoral college,
I'll say chicken college. - OK, that I can follow. - OK. The number of chicken votes for each state is equal to the number of
Congresspeople for that state. - [Grover] In every state? (chicken clucks) - [Sal] Yes, Grover. - From California to the New York island? From the redwood forest
to the Gulf Stream waters. - Yes. The 50 states. (Grover laughs) And so there are a total
of 538 chicken votes in the chicken college. For example, Florida has 29 chicken votes. (chicken clucks) And that's the same as the 29
Congresspeople that they have, two senators and 27 representatives. - [Grover] Oh, hello there, chickens. (chickens clucking) OK, then, so how do I, candidate Grover, win the presidency? - Well, since there are
538 chicken votes in total, you just have to get
more than half of those. - More than half. Hmm, let me see here. (trumpets play line from
"Stars and Stripes Forever") One, carry the two, divided by eight. - Grover, we, we know the actual number. You just have to get at
least 270 chicken votes in the chicken college. - Just 270 chickens? I could do that. 300 chickens just crossed
the road to hear me speak at the rally. (chickens clucking)
- Oh, great, do you have your speech? - Oh, yeah, it's just right here, yeah. Where did I put it, it? Ah, I'll just wing it. Bye, Sal. - Bye, Grover. Now get out there and vote. (chickens cluck) (violins play "Hail to the Chief")