2007 FRQ Response

A1. The winner-take-all feature of the Electoral College means that the candidate with the most votes (a majority) won against his/her competitor(s) within a particular state, wins that state’s electoral college votes.

B1. One way in which the winner-take-all feature affects how presidential candidates from the two presidential political parties run their campaigns is that they focus a majority of their time in “swing states” defined as those localities which could “swing” either to Republican or Democrat candidates as opposed to “safe states” that traditionally vote for a particular party (ie. The South for Republicans since the 1970’s). Swing states with their uncommitted electoral college votes are critical for victory and the winner-take-all system ensures that candidates and campaigns focus much of their time in swing states.

C1. One way in which the winner-take-all feature of the Electoral College hinders third-party candidates is that while a third party candidate such as Ralph Nadar may win a large number of popular votes in California, the winner-take-all systems does not allow him to collect a proportional amount of electoral college votes. He may make impressive gains across the country in terms of voters, yet not earn one electoral college vote which is necessary for winning the election.

D1. One of the reasons why the Electoral College has not been abolished is that it would require a Constitutional Amendment to abolish it. A Constitution Amendment through formal means is extremely difficult to accomplish requiring supermajorities in both Congress and at the state legislatures which is why there are only 27 Amendments to the Constitution.

D2. Another one of the reasons why the Electoral College has not been abolished is that small states with small populations constitutionally receive 3 electoral college votes respectively. This arrangement benefits small states. They actually have disproportional larger amounts of political influence. Accordingly, they would not be interested in ceding their power (ie. their 3 votes0 to larger states.