WEBVTT - How the Electoral College Works 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.480 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff You Should Know? 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:16.320 From House Stuff Works dot Com? Hey you, and welcome 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:20.000 to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:24.959 and you put us together, a couple of microphones, some cameras. 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:28.640 You get something called Stuff you Should Know cameras. Yeah 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:32.360 you're talking about Oh yeah, there's nothing here. Everything's very normal. 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:38.880 Just proceed, Chuck. Yes, I'm great. How are you? What's 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:42.360 your time is? NI? I'm getting over my cold? Yeah 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:44.639 you sound good? Do I Yeah? Well you sound better 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:46.720 than last week. Yeah, I'll give you that, but I 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:49.800 still I don't feel like I found a percent. But 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:52.960 compared to the swimming and snot phase, I will take 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:56.160 this and it got really bad, pretty snotty. I'm not 0:00:56.200 --> 0:01:01.600 going to go into it here, but wow. Yeah, um okay, yes, 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:04.360 election time is not I tried to get right to it, 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:09.200 yeah and I blocked you. Um so uh yeah, That's 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:13.119 why I wanted to do this one, because people perennially 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:18.240 perennially ask for the electoral college and other people say, 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:19.880 I don't know what that is but I want to 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:22.280 hear about that too, And then people in other countries 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:27.080 just say, you guys do what? Yeah, it's kind of depressing. Yeah. 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:29.040 Actually I meant to look up to see what other 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:34.720 countries did with their elections. It's like kings and birthrights 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:38.200 and stuff, but no one else votes. No, that's just 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:45.200 the USA that does that. Um yeah, chuck um. I 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:47.320 don't really have much of an intro here, all right, 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.640 it's more of a can you believe this kind of thing? 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:55.600 How long have you thought that you went to the 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:57.360 polls and cast a vote and the vote you were 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:01.640 casting was for the candidate that you were casting that 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:05.600 vote for. That that's who that vote went to every 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:08.680 time up until yesterday. So like you didn't have much 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:10.840 of an idea about the electoral call. Now I did, 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:13.320 but and I knew sort of how it worked, But 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:17.200 until you really get down to it, you don't realize that, Wow, 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.320 I'm voting for a person that's going to vote for 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:22.440 a person. Yeah exactly, you know, yeah, because in some cases, 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:24.760 like it's not even on the ballot, like the person 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.960 who you're actually voting for. Okay, So we did what 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:30.240 I like to do. We confused everybody, and now we're 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:33.160 gonna go back and explain what we're talking about. Okay, Yeah, 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:36.560 I was confused. Actually, uh, I'm gonna be a shamed 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:39.000 shame myself right out of the gate. When it said 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:41.480 every four years on the Tuesday following the first Monday 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:43.320 of November, I was like, why don't they just call 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:46.639 it the first Tuesday in November? But then I realized that, 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:50.520 I guess if November one is a Tuesday, then it 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:53.560 won't the election won't be to the following Tuesday because 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:55.440 they gotta get the Monday in there. It gets even 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:59.080 crazier than that with the electoral College. They go the 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:05.120 first Monday day following the second Wednesday in December. Yeah, 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:11.280 and everybody had like gout or something like that. Back. Yeah, 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:14.760 that's what it was. So that is when the actual 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:20.840 presidency is decided in December. Although everyone knows, well you 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:23.480 would think, yeah, so okay, so let's talk about this. 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:27.000 So the electoral college the whole thing, like, why don't 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:31.320 we just stick to the popular vote, which is what 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:33.680 everybody thinks they're doing. Anyway, where did this come from? 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:37.160 I have an answer. Uh, back in the day when 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:41.880 our founding forefathers and mothers were doing their thing here. 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:44.960 They decided, you know, I think I don't trust a 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:50.000 regular popular vote. Uh it's reckless as described in this article. 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:53.120 And then um, another camp said, you know what, we 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:56.120 sure as heck ain't gonna let Congress decide the president. 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:58.560 So why don't we come up with a really confusing, 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:02.360 wacky system all the electoral college, Because it's like, compromise, 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:04.960 do you want to have a bunch of uninformed gravel 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:08.120 rousers who just revolted against the King of England a 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:10.480 few years before voting, or do you want a group 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.440 of elites voting. It's like citizens United. You don't want 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:16.120 either of them. So, yeah, they just went and got confusing. 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:22.120 Uh yeah, I imagine it was more confusing back then 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:26.000 than it is today. Or maybe not, maybe it made 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:28.960 more sensepect I think it probably did. So Okay, So 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.360 when they come up with it was a compromise. Well, 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:34.920 the compromises when it comes election time. Um, there are 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:39.480 these people called electors who actually decide the presidency and 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:43.279 they represent Um that's equal to to two U. S. 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:46.640 Senators that every state has, plus the number of representatives 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:49.080 that each state has, So that comes to five thirty 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:52.479 eight total. Yes, Um, and three of those are part 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:54.719 of the twenty three amendment from nineteen sixty one that 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:58.279 gave three electors to d C. Yeah, they figured, since 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:00.200 everything is based here, we might as well talk with 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:04.560 your votes. Seem like the right. Um, And did you 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:09.600 say that was amendment? So? Um, they actually cast the 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:12.400 vote when when we when we vote for the president, 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:15.280 we are voting for the electors, And like you said, 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.640 they're not always even on the ballot. Sometimes they are, 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:24.000 sometimes they're not. And like I bet you anything, the 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:26.800 people who vote have no idea who their electors are 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.280 or like how they got to be in that position, right, 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:33.000 They were like, Um, I'm going to vote for Barack Obama, 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:37.320 but who is this Todd Winemaker in parentheses thanks to him? 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:40.000 I have no idea who that is or if in 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:42.640 some ballots they'll you'll go to the end and it's 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:47.800 like county commissioner, dog catcher and then electors and then 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:52.040 there's a list of people's names by party or like 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:54.680 you said, it's just not on there at all. Yeah. 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:57.039 And one thing I was surprised to learn was my 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:00.000 our own electors here in Georgia. I looked them up 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:01.360 just because I thought, you know, I might as well 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:03.960 know who they are and their addresses are in there, 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:07.440 Like I can go knock on the dude's door indicator 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:12.000 like eight blocks from me and say, you, sir, have 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.359 a great responsibility at your hands. Are you going to 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:18.000 do that? But I could? You could? I think maybe 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:21.480 you should reconsider. I'm just surprised. I don't know. I guess, well, 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:23.000 we know where the president lives, so that's not a 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:25.600 big deal. But I guess I was surprised at all 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:27.159 that stuff is common knowledge. I thought they would be 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:30.719 like secret. Yeah, I think they want that to go 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:32.839 the opposite way. Well, no, it makes sense now that 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:36.360 I figured it out, Like they do want everything out 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:38.080 in the open so everyone knows. But it just seemed 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:40.120 a little weird that the guy voting for the president 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:43.039 is actually like half a mile from my house or 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:45.160 one of the guys. I'm with you, all right. UM, 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:47.520 so you've got like this group of people who are 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:53.160 actually voted in, and um they meet after the popular 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:57.920 election to certify. The secretary of each state certifies the vote. 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:01.240 The governor, Uh, what's the for certificates saying here are 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.760 all the votes that age candidate got, and then um, 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:08.200 based on this, the electors go and cast their vote 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:13.200 the first Monday following the second Wednesday in December. That's right. 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:16.080 I couldn't find why. Oh, I don't know. I guess 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:18.120 it just falls somewhere in between the election and jan 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:22.880 And that's when everybody it's like, wait, wait, wait, Christmas, Christmas. 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:25.640 We've got to make sure we're done in plenty of time. 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:29.640 And then um, they cast the vote and then it's unsealed, 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:34.360 right and read that's right. Even though, barring any surprises, 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:38.120 you pretty much know election night from either exit polls 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:41.000 or whatever you know, Dan rather tells you, or whoever 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:44.040 does it these days, you would hope because that guy 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:47.840 who lives a few miles away from you, blocks or miles, Um, 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:50.720 I think I charted him out. I'm stalking him. It 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:56.280 was less than a mile. That's uh. So that guy, um, 0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:00.400 you want his name? Yeah, John White? That his name, 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:04.240 So John White, the elector, right, one of them. Yeah, 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:07.240 it's it's perfectly legal for him to say, you know what, 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:11.840 Supposedly I am supposed to be voting for Barack Obama. 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:15.480 But I really like the kind of this. Mitt Rodney's Jim. Yeah, 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:18.600 that doesn't really happen, though it has, but not quite 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:21.000 like that. But in the modern time, I think one 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.000 of the reasons why they published their addresses is so 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.280 you know, a good it's throwing you out there like, 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:30.680 hey man, you can vote however you want, but everybody 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:32.320 knows where you live. And if you think they get 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:36.920 mad about, you know, referees making bad calls, faithless elector 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:40.160 that's what they're called, which is a great band name. 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:45.320 Do you think faithless selector or the faithless Electors? I 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:49.520 don't think so. It's too um maybe for like a 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:54.000 DC law school band. Faithless Electors. I can see that 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:58.920 almost girls, they have no future whatsoever unless they turn 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.720 it into something like school opians or something like that. Right, 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:06.320 And actually, faithless electors have no future as electors because 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:08.000 one thing you can probably be sure of if you 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.160 change your vote, then you're not going to be asked 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:13.560 back to be an elector in the future, and you 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.280 could possibly be fined depending on what states you're in, 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:19.280 and you're probably going to be kicked out of your party. 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.080 You're putting a lot on the line. Yeah, and see, 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:23.480 this is the thing that made it all clear to me. 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.120 Each party has its own electors, so that's why no 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:28.960 one's gonna turn. Like the people that are put in 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:34.280 the place as electors are like staunch party line people. 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:37.320 You know, they're not going to turn and vote. Like. 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:40.520 The reason they're there is because they know that they're 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:42.880 going to vote for either the Republican or the Democrat. 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.400 Then know where their bread is buttered exactly. Um. Okay, 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:47.680 so let's talk about these people. How are these people elected? 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:51.200 What do they have to qualify for? Obviously everyone has 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:53.400 to have at least a juris doctor if not a 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:57.640 PhD in law of some sort, like a juris doctorate um, 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:03.360 some sort of political science degree um. And probably um 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:06.480 they have to have like several hundred hours of community 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:10.280 service under their belt. Yes, that is not true. Are 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:13.760 you sure? A nice set up though, thank you being coy. Uh. 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:18.240 There actually are no real um strict outlines per the 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:22.319 constitution as to who these people are. Um. They are 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:26.680 usually nominated by a state party committee. Um. It says 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:29.800 in here, usually as a or sometimes to reward many 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.480 years of service to the party. So they could be 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:35.479 like big on the campaign trail for you or activists 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:39.880 maybe for your party or like a robo dialer. Yeah yeah, 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:44.240 I guess so like the all time robot dialing. UM. 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:48.319 But they cannot be UM senators or representatives. And I 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.560 would imagine former too, although I didn't see that. I 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:55.719 don't know. I think active is what it is. UM. 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:58.600 You can't be a high ranking official in a position 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:02.840 of trust or profit. Makes sense. And this one I 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:05.199 love that they actually had to specify this. UM, he 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:08.120 or she cannot be someone who has engaged in insurrection 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:10.840 or rebellion. Well this is this obviously was put in 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.240 by the people who are like, we can't just to 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:16.760 a popular vote. These people are crazy, Like I saw, 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.760 I must get in that guy's hands last week, aimed 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.480 at my office and now he's an elector, right, he 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:26.439 can't vote. That is still in there though. UM. Yeah, 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:30.640 that insurrection rebellion thing definitely helped form this country. Okay, 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:34.520 So UM, you've got people who are active in their 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:38.120 in their party, who are who have been rewarded UM. 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:42.280 Maybe they're activists. UM. Sometimes they know the president or 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:47.160 at president elect, like they met him on the campaign trail. UM. 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.760 And that's really about it. Each state has I think 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:56.280 probably a different UM nominating process. But overall, when you 0:11:56.600 --> 0:11:59.240 are when you have a candidate who's running from Green 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:03.199 Party dumb Republican, you take your as your party, as 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:06.120 your Green Party, you all go down together and you 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:09.520 pile into like the the camper and go down and 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.160 exactly and you're all very depressed because you don't have 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:15.880 a shot at winning. You know, Roseanne's running for president 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:19.840 for the Green Party. Really yeah, and she's being roasted 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:23.960 right now. I don't think that that's not a media play, right. Um, 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:27.040 So they all go down to the Secretary of State's 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:30.560 office and say, hey, these are our candidates. There are 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:38.040 electors for candidates for electors. So when you vote for Roseanne, um, 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:40.880 it should have all those people's names next to hers 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.280 or on on like by party. It might say like 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:46.480 Green Party electors, here's all the people, or it might 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:50.080 not say anything. But um, when you cast that vote 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:56.120 for Roseanne, you are voting those electors. That's who you're 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:59.319 voting for. That's who the vote goes to, Not Roseanne, 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.679 it goes to John Goodman. I would be That's who 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:05.439 I would have as my elector if I was Roseanne. 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:11.959 What about Tom Arnold? Now, Tom Arnold, that a messy divorce. 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:14.839 He'd be the party press though. Well John Goodman was 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:17.760 never married to there's just TV TV marriage though. That's 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:25.200 like sacer sanct That's just my opinion. All right, Um, 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:27.360 all right, so where are we? We're talking about how 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:30.319 the vote goes towards not Roseanne where you wanted it 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:33.240 to go, not Tom Tom Arnold or John Goodman, but 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:37.839 to uh Todd Winemaker and all the other electors. Right, 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:42.720 So what's what's going on here? What's this process? Well, 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:46.160 I mean they they literally just make their vote, um, 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:50.520 supposedly in accordance with the people's popular vote, and I 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:52.520 think what do they give it to? The secretary secretary 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.840 of state? Right, that's that's who's like, it's registered before 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:59.200 election day, like your names on the list, it's yes, 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:01.000 So at the at least if it's not printed on 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:03.920 the ballot, the secretary of state knows who the electors are. 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:06.640 And there's two ways to do it. Forty eight states 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.800 have a winner take all system, and then Maine in 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:13.199 Nebraska have a district system. I'm just confused by that one. Okay, 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:17.320 So the district system actually more closely follows the electoral 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:21.080 college system than the winner take all. Now is this 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:25.200 to to vote for the elector only? No, that's what 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:29.480 confused me. I think. So let's say you have let's 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:32.240 do the winner take all system, which is so easy, 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:36.040 but think about it. So let's say you are in Arizona, 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:41.040 all right, right, and you're you decided to stay, you're 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:44.200 not moving. Um, that wouldn't happen. You've got like you 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:46.880 have ten ten there's ten well in two thousand eight 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:48.360 and I believe it's the same in two thousand and twelve. 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:54.760 There's ten electoral votes, right, Um, so the Green Party 0:14:54.840 --> 0:15:00.320 candidate Roseanne should have ten electors associated with her, right, Um, 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:04.040 the Barack Obama should have ten electors? Uh mitt, Ronnie 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:07.680 should have ten electors. So when when that person wins 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:11.120 the popular vote and that's certified, then those electors are 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:13.840 the ones, those ten associated with that candidate are the 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:15.920 one that should go down to the state capital on 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:19.000 the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December and 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:22.000 cast their vote. Okay, I get that. And also we 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:25.520 should point out that in this system, that is the 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.200 reason why sometimes the name isn't even on the ballot 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:31.480 because there's something something somewhere in their state constitution that 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:34.600 says a vote for Barack Obama is a vote for 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:36.560 these ten people. You don't need to know who they are, 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:41.920 just trust us exactly. Okay, that's the that's the winner 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:44.880 take all system. Right. The other system in Maine in 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:47.760 Nebraska is a district system. So the winner take all 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:51.400 system that's a lot like a popular vote. Um. In 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:56.000 the district system, you get two votes, the the guy 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:59.120 who won, the guy or the lady or the gender 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:02.240 gender neutral president, depending on when you listen to this episode. 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:07.760 Um uh. They whoever got the most popular votes in 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:11.520 the state gets two electoral votes, the two associated with 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:15.520 the Senate Right. Then um, the other electoral votes that 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:20.400 are divvied up by congressional district. Whoever one that congressional 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:24.200 district gets that vote. Yeah, I get that, and I looked. 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:26.080 I looked it up a little further and saw that 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:29.760 there are scenarios in Maine in Nebraska where you could 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:34.680 have three different UM votes cast for three different candidates. 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:38.520 But they said it's never happened. It's just theoretically possible, 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:44.040 mathematically statistically possible, all three. I don't know. It just 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.440 seems like everyone should just be all in the same system. 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:50.760 But but it makes sense if you're but think about it, Like, 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:53.480 the whole reason you have the electoral college, or one 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:57.400 of the big reasons, is to prevent um one region 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:02.200 or one one part of this state from wielding enough 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:06.920 power to vote for everybody else. And I think that's 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:09.399 what the district system is is set up to prevent 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:11.959 to It's kind of like, hey man, you had let 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:16.959 let you. You voted for this, this, this person, UM, 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:19.600 and we want you to have your say in the 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:23.520 electoral college. I think it's smarter. Oh yeah, I think 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:27.760 so well than I do too. You swayed me. Good. 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:33.000 John White. I've got his number. You know, he could 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:36.680 use this as evidence one day for what I don't want. 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.960 What's gonna happen? What are you gonna do? I'm but 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:43.399 if something happened, then everyone would point their fingers at me. Yeah. 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:45.520 It's like we heard him say it so on his podcast. 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:51.400 All right, I won't testify against you, though I appreciate it. Um. 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.080 Should we talk about some of the hinky results over 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:57.320 the years when things don't go quite as planned or 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:04.120 go exactly as planned. Very true, that's a teaser. Um. 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:08.359 There have been four presidents, Um, potus what they call 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:16.400 him four potuses podai that have one um there their 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:19.639 post with without the popular vote. Yeah, I mean that's 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.720 happened four times in this country, and all the ones 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:25.399 up until two thousand, we probably weren't his concern with 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:28.040 because you're like, who cares. They're all old timing, They're 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.560 all old time, they were wearing, they were just working 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:34.440 it out. Back in eighty four when John adams Son 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:40.560 John Quincy the Q, the Q he received thirty eight 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:44.000 thousand fewer votes than Andrew Jackson. Um, this one was 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:47.560 was definitely hinky because neither one of them won electoral college. 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:51.080 So if that happens, you defer to what the twelfth Amendment, 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:53.800 and that's when the House of Representatives decides who the 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:57.120 president is, which would be really weird these days. Yeah, 0:18:57.200 --> 0:18:59.360 don't you think. I think there'd be a lot of 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.800 that just be bad news. But at the same time, 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:04.840 this is four and there were still a lot of 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:08.560 insurrecting rebellious people, so I'm sure it was a little 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:14.400 nervous back then. Um so who won j Q Q Yeah, 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:21.199 Um eighteen seventy six, brother Ford B. Hayes. Um, this 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:23.640 is the first time and I think the only time 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:27.399 that small states actually swung the election. Hayes carried a 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:32.719 bunch of small states um and basically combined there with 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:37.800 their combined electoral votes, gave him the electoral vote um, 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:40.280 although he lost the popular vote by a lot, by 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:44.960 like a hundred and nine thousand, no, two hundred sixty 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:47.720 four thousand votes. He lost the popular vote. Yeah, we 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:53.520 almost had a president Samuel Tilden, Sammy Tilden, the Haymaker, 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:56.720 it was his nickname. Really, I feel bad for the 0:19:56.760 --> 0:19:59.040 hay Maker all of a sudden, Yeah, yeah, well, I 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:02.080 mean everybody liked him a lot more. But Hayes cobbled 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:06.719 together a win from small states, and Colorado had just 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:08.959 been let in this is the Hinky part um and 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:11.640 they didn't have any popular vote, there was no vote whatsoever. 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:15.240 They just did some electoral voting and it went all 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:18.040 to hay So he put it together with Colorado so 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:20.879 with very little popular vote, and then in one state 0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:24.199 no popular vote, and he won, and he went on 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:26.600 to be the greatest president of this country's ever seen. 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:29.159 I mean, Colorado, I guess they were just like, we 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:31.480 don't even have pens and pencils. Can you give us, like, 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:35.440 just get bufflers. We're just like, we're all boxes over here. 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:39.840 We haven't even started unpacking. So they said, oh well, 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:43.040 let's just give it to let's just give it to Haze. Yeah, 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:48.960 good on, Yeah, who you got next? Benjie Harrison lost 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:51.600 the popular vote by more than ninety five thousand votes 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:55.200 to Grover Cleveland. Won the electoral vote by sixty five 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:57.959 And this is one of the cases where they say 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:02.439 it worked exactly like the plan. Uh, like we planned 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:06.639 it to with electoral college, because you can't just overwhelm 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:11.600 someone in one region and and get the presidency. That's 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:14.040 what happened. And so in six states in the South, 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:17.000 so they the whole campaign pretty much was based on 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:19.200 we want the tariff, we don't want the tariff. Well, 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:22.480 the North that everybody else wanted the tariff, South didn't 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:26.639 want the tariff. Um, so Grover Cleveland was like, no 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:30.119 tariff whatsoever, and the South voted as a block. They 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:32.480 had a bunch of people. He won the popular vote 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:37.120 by like huge number, but in the other thirty two 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:41.159 states he lost by four twenty five thousand votes. No, no, no, 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:45.439 he lost by three hundred thousand. He had so thirty 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:48.400 two states were against him. Combined, six states were four him, 0:21:48.440 --> 0:21:51.679 and the Electoral College steps in and prevents the South 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:54.920 from picking the president for the rest of the country 0:21:55.280 --> 0:22:00.440 flawless and then not flawless. Let's go to the year 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:06.200 two thousand. Yeah. Yeah, I was um driving across country 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:09.040 moving to Los Angeles during this election, and I made 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:14.240 a self made video of my journey, which most of 0:22:14.280 --> 0:22:16.920 which was me singing along the songs on the radio 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:18.960 in my U haul. And I've still got this. I 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:21.280 should like get it digitized and posted at some point. 0:22:21.280 --> 0:22:24.800 It's pretty funny. But um, I remember very specifically one 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:26.159 part in the in the thing, I woke up in 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:28.440 New Mexico and I'm you can tell him all sleepy 0:22:28.480 --> 0:22:31.679 and you don't remember going to sleep. I remember going 0:22:31.720 --> 0:22:34.200 to sleep, but I woke up and I said, yeah, 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:36.520 you know here I am in New Mexico. It's weird. 0:22:37.119 --> 0:22:38.760 I woke up this morning and they don't know who 0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:41.840 the president is. And it's like captured in time this 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:45.199 moment where I realized was sleep in my eyes, Like, 0:22:45.320 --> 0:22:48.280 that's weird. I went to bed expecting because you know 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:51.600 that night everybody was going towards Gore. Well, every I 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:53.639 think it was called a couple of different ways, a 0:22:53.680 --> 0:22:55.879 couple of different times. It went back and forth, but 0:22:55.920 --> 0:22:58.840 when everybody went to bed, it was like Gore all 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:01.320 the way, like he'd won the popular vote. They knew 0:23:01.320 --> 0:23:04.280 it was close, but everybody had called Gore and and 0:23:04.320 --> 0:23:06.600 then they woke up and they're like wait a second. 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:14.800 And then a huge, huge mess cluster ensued afterward, which 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:20.520 involved the court system. It involved um hanging Chad's well 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:22.480 not only that, you remember like there was this one 0:23:22.560 --> 0:23:25.359 county where like their votes just got lost for a 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:29.000 little while on the way to be counted. They were 0:23:29.080 --> 0:23:34.320