Are you ready? Well, you'd better be if you live in a "swing state". It turns out most of the country is, once again, going to be shut out of the political process due to our electoral college system of deciding the Presidential election. For those of you, which, let's face it, is most of us, who've forgotten exactly how that electoral college thing works, here's a quick tutorial:
First, it's a process not a place. Thus, there are no school colors, no mascot, no teams. The Electoral College is a system which goes into effect every four years to elect the President and Vice President and is actually a provision of the Constitution. It was a compromise hammered out by the FF's (founding fathers) so neither the popular vote nor the votes of Congress would elect the top two Federal offices. (In my opinion, it's one of those 18th century ideas that needs to change.)
Second, 'electors' (these are actual people who cast each state's votes) are chosen in various ways, and state law binds how the state's electors vote. The most common is: 'winner takes all electors' based on which candidate wins the popular vote. There are still a couple of states that have proportional electors. (Maine and Nebraska)
So, how many electors does each state (plus the District of Columbia) get? It's one for each member of a state's congressional delegation plus 2 (for their Senators). Thus, there are 435 members in the House of Representatives, plus 100 Senators, plus the District of Columbia has 3 electors = 538 electors. Divide 538 by 2 = 269. Add '1' for a majority and thus, you arrive at that 270 number the media talks about the Presidential/VicePresidental candidates need to be elected.
What's evolved in the 21st century is certain states depending if they vote 'red' or 'blue', will determine the election due to the electoral college. It's why the Presidential/VP candidates can get less than 50% of the popular vote, and yet, are still elected because they accrue 270 electoral college votes.
Thus, if you live in a 'swing state', expect to see the candidates, hear the candidates, and have all forms of media bombarded with advertisements not only by the candidates, but by their political party, as well as PAC's (political action committees which can consist of lone individuals with $$$$ as well as corporations/unions/non-profits, etc). This is going to go on from August 1 until November 7.
If you have not figured this out yet, candidates actually fudge the truth and outright lie. Political party ads and PAC ads are even less truthful than the candidates. Even if you have made up your mind about who you're voting for, may I suggest you look at the following two websites and use them this election season. Politifact is a Pulitzer Prize winning site which tells you what political statements are true or false. Pew Research is a non-profit site which uses statistical analysis to break down what all types of citizens are actually thinking about various issues.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/
http://www.pewresearch.org/
Finally, what are the 'swing states'? Both parties agree on: Florida, Ohio, Virginia and Colorado. These four states, and it's 'winner take all electors' in these, will determine who wins this election. There are others which are 'in play' (meaning, they may switch from red to blue or vice versa) - such as North Carolina, Arizona, and a couple of others.
All I can say is, boy, am I glad I'm going to be out of Colorado on September 23rd.
