WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How the Electoral College Works 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:03.320 Hi there, It's Josh Clark, one half of Stuff you 0:00:03.320 --> 0:00:05.600 Should Know, and I'm here to present our episode on 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:11.319 the Electoral College, a convoluted, flawed system, one that's shown 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:14.840 its inherent problems in the last couple of decades. In fact, 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:19.120 the electoral college is frequently cited as the most undemocratic 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.680 aspect of our democracy. I hope our episode on it 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:26.040 gives you a good picture of it and hopefully charges 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:29.280 you up to vote, because our ability to vote is 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:33.320 not only a right, it's an imperative. So please vote 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:36.320 this November and anytime you have a chance to vote, 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:45.519 because that's how America moves forward. Welcome to Stuff You 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:54.600 Should Know, a production of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:57.920 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:02.640 Chuck Bryant, and you've put us together a couple of microphones, 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:07.160 some cameras. You get something called Stuff you Should Know cameras. 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:10.640 Yeah you're talking about. Oh yeah, there's nothing here. Everything's 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:16.120 very normal. Just proceed, Chuck. Yes, how you doing. I'm great. 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:19.760 How are you? Election time is nigh. I'm getting over 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:23.040 my cold. Yeah you sound good? Do I yeah, well 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:25.119 you sound better than he did that. Yeah, I'll give 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:26.560 you that, but I still I don't feel like I 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:30.160 found a hundred percent. But compared to the swimming and 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.880 snot phase, I will take this and it got really bad. 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:36.120 It's pretty snotty. I'm not going to go into it here, 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:41.800 but wow. Yeah, um okay, yes, election time is nigh. 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.440 I try to get right to it. Yeah, and I 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:48.760 blocked you, um so uh yeah, that's why I wanted 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:54.240 to do this one. Because people perennially perennially ask for 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:57.600 the electoral college, and other people say, I don't know 0:01:57.600 --> 0:01:59.720 what that is, but I want to hear about that too, 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:02.360 and then people in other countries just say, you guys, 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:06.600 do what It's kind of depressing. Yeah. Actually, I'm meant 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:10.040 to look up to see what other countries did with 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:14.200 their elections. It's like kings and birthrights and stuff, but 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:17.080 it is no one else votes. Okay, that's that's just 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:23.960 the USA that does that. Um yeah, chuck, yes, um. 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.280 I don't really have much of an intro here, all right. 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:30.480 It's more of a can you believe this kind of thing? 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.480 How long have you thought that you went to the 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:36.240 polls and cast a vote and the vote you were 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:40.520 casting was for the candidate that you were casting that 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:44.480 vote for. That that's who that vote went to every 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:47.560 time up until yesterday. So like you didn't have much 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:49.720 of an idea about the electoral call. Now I did, 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.200 but and I knew sort of how it worked, but 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:56.040 until you really get down to it, you don't realize that, Wow, 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:58.200 I'm voting for a person that's going to vote for 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:01.320 a person. Yeah exactly, you know, yeah, because in some cases, 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.640 like it's not even on the ballot, like the person 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:06.840 who you're actually voting for. Okay, so we did what 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:09.080 I like to do. We confused everybody, and now we're 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:11.680 gonna go back and explain what we're talking about. Okay, 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.160 Yeah I was confused. Actually, uh, I'm gonna be a 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:17.600 shame shame myself. Right out of the gate when it 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:20.040 said every four years on the Tuesday following the first 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:22.080 Monday of November, I was like, why don't they just 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:24.680 call it the first Tuesday in November? But then I 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:28.840 realized that, I guess if November one is a Tuesday, 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:31.280 then it won't the election won't be to the following 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:33.679 Tuesday because they got to get the Monday in there. 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:36.760 It gets even crazier than that with the electoral college. 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:44.000 They go the first Monday following the second Wednesday in December. Yeah, 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:47.200 and everybody had like gout or something like that. Back 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:52.760 it's just passed out. Yeah, that's what it was. So 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:56.040 that is when the actual presidency is decided in December. 0:03:56.480 --> 0:04:01.520 Although everyone knows well you would think, yeah, so okay, 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:04.200 so let's talk about this. So the electoral college the 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:08.560 whole thing, like, why don't we just stick to the 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:11.680 popular vote, which is what everybody thinks they're doing. Anyway, 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.720 where did this come from? I have an answer. Uh, 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:18.880 back in the day when our founding forefathers and mothers 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:22.520 were doing their thing here, they decided, you know, I 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:26.520 think I don't trust a regular popular vote. Uh, it's 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:30.719 reckless as described in this article. And then um, another 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:33.160 camp said, you know what, we sure as heck ain't 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:36.080 gonna let Congress decide the president. So why don't we 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:39.000 come up with a really confusing, wacky system called the 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:42.039 electoral college because it's like compromise. Do you want to 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.479 have a bunch of uninformed rabble rousers who just revolted 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.280 against the King of England a few years before voting, 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:50.800 or do you want a group of elites voting. It's 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:53.480 like citizens United. You don't want either of them. So yeah, 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:58.359 they just went and got confusing. Uh yeah, imagine it 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:03.680 was more confusing back then than it is today. Or 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:05.839 maybe not, maybe it made more senspect I think it 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:08.520 probably did. So Okay, So when they come up with 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:11.520 it was the compromise. Well, the compromise is when it 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:15.680 comes election time. Um, there are these people called electors 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:20.760 who actually decide the presidency and they represent. Um, it's 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:23.640 equal to to two U. S. Senators that every state has, 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:26.640 plus the number of representatives that each state has. Yeah, 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.800 so that comes to five thirty eight total. Yes, um, 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:32.000 and three of those are part of the twenty three 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.840 Amendment from nineteen sixty one that gave three electors to 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:38.039 d C. Yeah, they figured since everything is based here, 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.159 we might as well toss him a few votes. Seemed 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:43.720 like the right thing. Um. And did you say that 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:48.480 was the amendment? Okay? So, um, they actually cast the 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.279 vote when when we when we vote for the president, 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:54.120 we are voting for the electors. And like you said, 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:57.520 they're not always even on the ballot. Sometimes they are, 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:02.280 sometimes they're not. And like, I bet you anything. Nine 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.680 people who vote have no idea who their electors are 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:09.160 or like how they got to be in that position, right, 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:11.880 They're like, um, I'm going to vote for Barack Obama, 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:16.200 but who's this Todd Winemaker in parentheses thanks to him? 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:18.800 I have no idea who that is, or if in 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:21.520 some ballots they'll you'll go to the end and it's 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:26.479 like county commissioner, you dog catcher, and then electors and 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:30.719 then there's a list of people's names by party or 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:33.520 like you said, it's just not on there at all. Yeah, 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:35.919 And one thing I was surprised to learn was my 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:38.920 our own electors here in Georgia. I looked them up 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:40.240 just because I thought, you know, I might as well 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:42.800 know who they are, and their addresses are in there, 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:46.320 like I can go knock on the dude's door indicator 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.880 like eight blocks from me and say, you, sir, have 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.240 a great responsibility at your hands. Are you going to 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:56.560 do that? Okay? But I could you could? I think 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:59.080 maybe you should reconsider. I'm just surprised. I don't know. 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:01.479 I guess, well, we know where the president lives, so 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:04.280 that's not a big deal. But I guess I'll surprised 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:05.719 that all that stuff is common knowledge. I thought they 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:09.279 would be like secret. Yeah, I think they want that 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:11.400 to go the opposite way. Well, no, it makes sense 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:13.960 now that I figured it out, Like they do want 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:16.600 everything out in the open so everyone knows. But it 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:18.480 just seemed a little weird that the guy voting for 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:20.920 the president is actually like half a mile from my 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:24.040 house or one of the guys. I'm with you, all right. Um, 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:26.400 so you've got like this group of people who are 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:32.000 actually voted in, and um, they meet after the popular 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:36.800 election to certify. The secretary of each state certifies the vote. 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.120 The governor uh whips up a certificate saying here are 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:43.640 all the votes that age candidate got. And then um, 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:47.080 based on this, the electors go and cast their vote 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:52.080 the first Monday following the second Wednesday in December. That's right. 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:54.960 I couldn't find why. Oh I don't know. I guess 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.520 it just falls somewhere in between the election and January. 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:01.720 And that's what everybody. It's like, wait, wait, wait, Christmas, Christmas. 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.520 We've got to make sure we're done in plenty of time. 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.520 And then um, they cast the vote and then it's unsealed, 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:13.240 right and read that's right. Even though, barring any surprises, 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:17.000 you pretty much know election night from either exit polls 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:19.880 or whatever you know, Dan rather tells you or whoever 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:22.920 does it these days, you would hope because that guy 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:25.520 who lives a few miles away from you or blocks 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.520 or miles, Um, I think I charted him out. I'm 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:32.880 stalking him. It was less than a mile, that's that's yeah. 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:36.800 Uh so that guy, um, you want his name, Yeah, 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:42.280 John White, that's his name. So John White, the elector, right, 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:44.960 one of them. Yeah, it's it's perfectly legal for him 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:49.000 to say, you know what, supposedly I am supposed to 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:52.080 be voting for Barack Obama. But I really like the 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:55.240 cut of this. Mitt Rodney's Jim. Yeah, that doesn't really happen, 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.400 though it has, but not quite like that. But in 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:00.680 the modern times, I think one of the reasons why 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:04.080 they published their addresses is so, you know, a good lynching. 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:07.800 It's throwing you out there like, hey, man, you can 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:10.240 vote however you want, but everybody knows where you live. 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:12.000 And if you think they get mad about, you know, 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:17.440 referees making bad calls, faithless elector that's what they're called, 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.600 which is a great band name. Do you think faithfles 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:24.760 selector or the faithless electors? No, I don't think so. 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:29.920 It's too um maybe for like a DC law school band. 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:34.600 Faithless electors I can see that saying almost girls, they 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:38.480 have no future whatsoever unless they turn it into something 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:41.840 like scorpions or something like that. Right, And actually, faithless 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:45.640 electors have no future as electors because one thing you 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:47.640 can probably be sure of if you change your vote, 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:49.920 then you're not going to be asked back to be 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:53.240 an elector in the future, and you could possibly be 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:56.240 fined depending on what states you're in. Yeah, and you're 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:58.439 probably going to be kicked out of your party. You're 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:01.040 putting a lot on the line. Yeah. And see this 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:02.360 is the thing that made it all clear to me. 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.000 Each party has its own electors. So that's why no 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:07.840 one's gonna turn. Like. The people that are put in 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:13.160 the place as electors are like staunch party line people. 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:16.200 You know, they're not going to turn and vote Like. 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:19.400 The reason they're there is because they know that they're 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:21.800 going to vote for either the Republican or the Democrat. 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:24.280 They know where their bread is buttered exactly. Um. Okay, 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:26.240 so let's talk about these people. How are these people, 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.400 like to what do they have to qualify for it? 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:31.679 Obviously everyone has to have at least a juris doctor, 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:34.920 if not a PhD in law of some sort, like 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:39.600 a Juris doctorate UM, some sort of political science degree UM. 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:44.640 And probably UM they have to have like several hundred 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:48.319 hours of community service under their belt. Yes, that is 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:50.600 not true? Are you sure? And I set up? Though? 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:54.280 Thank you're being coy. Uh. There actually are no real 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:59.199 UM strict outlines per the constitution as to who these 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:03.079 people are. UM. They are usually nominated by a state 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:06.680 party committee UM, it says in here, usually as a 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:10.280 or sometimes to reward many years of service to the party. 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:12.920 So they could be like big on the campaign trail 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:16.000 for you, or activists maybe for your party, or like 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:20.040 a robo dialer. Yeah yeah, I guess so, like the 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:25.199 all time robo dialer. UM. But they cannot be UM 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.720 senators or representatives, and I would imagine former too, although 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.720 I didn't see that. I don't know. I think active 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:35.400 is what it is. UM. You can't be a high 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:39.839 ranking official in a position of trust or profit. Makes sense, 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:42.640 And this one I love that they actually had to 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:45.199 specify this UM he or she cannot be someone who 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:48.560 has engaged in insurrection or rebellion. Well, this is this 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.480 obviously by the people who are like, we can't just 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:55.160 leave it to a popular vote. These people are crazy. Yeah, 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.800 Like I saw a musket in that guy's hands last week, 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:01.360 aimed at my office, and now he's an elector he 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:05.319 can't vote that It is still in there though. Um. Yeah, 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:09.560 that insurrection rebellion thing definitely helped form this country. Okay. 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:13.439 So um, you've got people who are active in their 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:17.040 in their party, who are who have been rewarded. Um, 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:21.199 maybe they're activists, um manytimes, they know the president or 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:23.640 a president elect right like they met him on the 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:28.800 campaign trail. Um. And that's really about it. Each state 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:33.520 has i think probably a different um nominating process. But overall, 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:37.680 when you are when you have a candidate who's running 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:41.840 from Green Party, Democrat, Republican, you take your as your party, 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:44.480 as your Green Party, you all go down together and 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:48.240 you pile into like the the camper and go down 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:51.959 and exactly and you're all very depressed because you don't 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.320 have a shot at winning. You know, Roseanne's running for 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:58.319 president for the Green Party, really yeah, and she's being 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:00.480 roasted right now, I don't think that that's not a 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:04.800 media play, right. Um, So they all go down to 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:07.400 the Secretary of State's office and say, hey, these are 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:13.319 our candidates. There are electors for candidates for electors. So 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:17.920 when you vote for Roseanne, um, it should have all 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:21.640 those people's names next to hers or on on, like 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:24.560 by party. It might say, like Green Party electors, here's 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:27.560 all the people, or it might not say anything. But um, 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:31.960 when you cast that vote for Roseanne, you are voting 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.959 those electors. That's who you're voting for. That's who the 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:39.960 vote goes to, Not Roseanne, right, it goes to John Goodman. 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:43.160 I would be That's who I would have as my 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:47.400 elector if I was Roseanne. What about Tom Arnold? Now 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:52.880 Arnold that a messy divorce, he'd be the party press though. Well, 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:55.800 John Goodman was never married to there's just TV TV 0:13:55.920 --> 0:14:00.720 marriage though. That's like Sacer sanct It's just my opinion. 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:05.440 All right. Well, now we're on the road, driving in 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:08.400 your truck. Want to learn a thing or two from 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:28.080 Josh can chuck stuff you should know? All right? All right, 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:30.360 so where are we We're talking about how the vote 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:33.040 goes towards not rose An where you wanted it to go, 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:36.920 not Tom Tom Arnold or John Goodman, but to uh 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:42.520 Todd Winemaker and all the other electors. Right, So, what's 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:45.520 what's going on here? What's this process? Well, I mean 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:49.680 they they literally just make their vote um, supposedly in 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:53.520 accordance with the people's popular vote. And I think, what 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:56.040 do they give it to? The secret secretary of state? Right? 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:59.800 That's that's who's like, it's registered before election day? Right, 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:02.280 your names on the list? It's yes, So at the 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:04.160 very least, if it's not printed on the ballot, the 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:07.360 secretary of state knows who the electors are. And there's 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:09.600 two ways to do it. Forty eight states have a 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:13.160 winner take all system and then Maine in Nebraska have 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:15.720 a district system. I'm just confused by that one. Okay, 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:19.840 so the district system actually more closely follows the electoral 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:23.600 college system than the winner take all. Now is this 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:27.720 to to vote for the elector only? No, that's what 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:31.960 confused me. I think. So let's say you have let's 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.760 do the winner take all system, which is so easy, 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:38.560 but think about it. So let's say you are in Arizona. 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:42.560 All right, Oh, it's hot, right, and you're you decided 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:46.000 to stay, you're not moving. Um, that wouldn't happen. You've 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.000 got like you have ten. There's ten, well in two 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:50.320 thousand eight, and I believe it's the same in two 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:56.160 thousand and twelve. There's ten electoral votes. Right, Um, So 0:15:56.320 --> 0:16:00.520 the Green Party candidate Roseanne should have ten electors associated 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:05.360 with her, right, Um, the Barack Obama should have ten electors. 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:09.280 Uh Mitt Romney should have ten electors. So when when 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:12.560 that person wins the popular vote and that's certified, then 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:15.520 those electors are the ones, those ten associated with that 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:17.440 candidate are the one that should go down to the 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.560 state capitol on the first Monday after the second Wednesday 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:23.480 of December and cast their vote. Okay, I get that. 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:27.520 And also we should point out that in this system, 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:29.920 that is the reason why sometimes the name isn't even 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:33.160 on the ballot, because there's something something somewhere in their 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:36.680 state constitution that says a vote for Barack Obama is 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:38.440 a vote for these ten people. You don't need to 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:42.680 know who they are, just trust us, right exactly. Okay, 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:45.800 that's the that's the winner take all system. Right. The 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.960 other system in Maine, in Nebraska is a district system. 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:51.120 So the winner take all system, that's a lot like 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:56.200 a popular vote. UM. In the district system, you get 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:59.880 h two votes the the guy who won, the guy 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.480 or the lady or the gender gender neutral president, depending 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:07.480 on when you listen to this episode. Um uh. They 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:11.600 whoever got the most popular votes in the state gets 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:14.840 two electoral votes, the two associated with the Senate right 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:18.880 then UM, the other electoral votes that are divvied up 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:25.400 by congressional district. Whoever one that congressional district gets that vote. Yeah, 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:27.439 I get that, And I looked. I looked it up 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:30.240 a little further and saw that there are scenarios in Maine, 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:35.560 in Nebraska where you could have three different UM votes 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:38.840 cast for three different candidates. But they said it's never happened. 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:46.080 It's just theoretically possible, mathematically statistically possible, all three. I 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:47.960 don't know. It just seems like everyone should just be 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:50.320 all on the same system. But but it makes sense 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:54.119 if you're but think about it, like, the whole reason 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:56.840 you have the electoral College, or one of the big reasons, 0:17:56.960 --> 0:18:02.200 is to prevent um one region or one one part 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:06.760 of the state from wielding enough power to vote for 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:10.480 everybody else. And I think that's what the district system 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:12.840 is is set up to prevent too. It's kind of like, 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:17.840 hey man, you had let's let you you voted for this, this, 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:21.320 this person, um, and we want you to have your 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:25.440 say in the electoral college. I think it's smarter. Oh yeah, 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:28.280 I think so well than I do too. You swaye 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:35.040 me good? John White. I've got his number. You know, 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:38.240 he could use this his evidence one day for what 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:40.760 I don't want. What's gonna happen? What are you gonna do? 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:44.280 I'm but if something happened, then everyone would point their 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:47.040 fingers at me. Yeah, it's like we heard him say 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:49.960 it so on his podcast. All right, I won't testify 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:54.560 against you, though I appreciate it. Um. Should we talk 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:58.200 about some of the hinky results over the years when 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:02.000 things don't go quite as planned or exactly as planned? 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:07.480 Very true, that's a teaser. Um. There have been four 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:13.920 presidents um potass what they call him, four potuses podai 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:20.560 that have one UM there their post with without the 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:22.960 popular vote. Yeah. I mean that's happened four times in 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:26.280 this country, and all the ones up until two thousand, 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:29.159 we probably weren't his concern with because You're like, who cares. 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:32.359 They're all old timing. They're all old time they were 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:36.800 just working it out. Back in four when John adams 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:42.879 Son John Quincy the Q the Q he received thirty 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:46.160 eight thousand fewer votes than Andrew Jackson. Um. This one 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:48.640 was was definitely hinky because neither one of them won 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:52.600 electoral college. So if that happens, you defer to what 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:55.800 the twelfth Amendment, and that's when the House of Representatives 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:58.440 decides who the president is, which would be really weird 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:01.399 these days. Yeah, don't think. I think there'd be a 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:04.720 lot of that just be bad news. But at the 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:07.000 same time, this is four and there were still a 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:10.720 lot of insurrecting, rebellious people, so I'm sure it was 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:15.359 a little nervous back then. Um so who won j 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:21.879 Q Q Yeah, Um eighteen seventy six, brother for b. Hayes. Um. 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:25.440 He apparently this is the first time, and I think 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:28.240 the only time that small states actually swung the election. 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:34.280 Hayes carried a bunch of small states UM and basically 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:38.080 combined their with their combined electoral votes gave him the 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:42.040 electoral vote. UM. Although he lost the popular vote by 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:46.159 a lot, by like a hundred and nine thousand, No, 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:50.160 two hundred sixty four thousand votes. He lost the popular vote. Yeah, 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:56.040 we almost had a president. Samuel Tilden, Sammy Tilden, the Haymaker, 0:20:56.640 --> 0:20:59.240 it was his nickname. Really, I feel bad for the 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:02.160 hay Maker of Sudden Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean everybody 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:05.280 liked him a lot more. But he's cobbled together a 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:09.879 win from small states, and Colorado had just been let in. 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:12.120 This is the Hinky part Um and they didn't have 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:14.560 any popular vote, there was no vote whatsoever. They just 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:18.200 did some electoral voting and it went all to hay 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:21.280 So he put it together with Colorado, so with very 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:24.280 little popular vote, and then in one state no popular 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:26.840 vote isn't and he won and he went on to 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:29.359 be the greatest president of this country's ever seen. I 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:31.920 mean Colorado, I guess they were just like, we don't 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:34.000 even have pens and pencils. Can you give us, like, 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:36.880 just can get the bufflers. We're just like we're all 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:42.359 boxes over here. We haven't even started unpacking. So they said, oh, well, 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:44.840 let's just give it to let's just give it to Haze. 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:51.480 Yeah good, Yeah, who you got next? Benjie Harrison lost 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:54.120 the popular vote by more than ninety five thousand votes 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:57.720 to Grover Cleveland won the electoral vote by sixty five 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:00.679 And this is one of the cases where they say 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:04.960 it worked exactly like the plan. Uh, like we planned 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:09.159 it to with electoral college, because you can't just overwhelm 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:14.120 someone in one region and and get the presidency. That's 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:16.560 what happened. And so in six states in the South, 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:19.520 so they the whole campaign pretty much was based on 0:22:19.840 --> 0:22:21.720 we want the tariff. We don't want the tariff. Well, 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:25.000 the North that everybody else wanted the tariff, South didn't 0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:29.080 want the tariff. Um, so Grover Cleveland was like, no 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:32.639 tariff whatsoever, and the South voted as a block. They 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:35.000 had a bunch of people. He won the popular vote 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:39.600 by like huge number, but in the other thirty two 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:43.680 states he lost by four twenty five thousand votes. No, no no, no, 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:47.960 he lost by three hundred thousand. He had so thirty 0:22:47.960 --> 0:22:50.920 two states were against him combined, six states were four him, 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:54.200 and the electoral college steps in and prevents the South 0:22:54.280 --> 0:22:56.919 from picking the president for the rest of the country. Right, 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:03.000 flawless and then not flawless. Let's go to the year 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:08.760 two thousand. Yeah, yeah, I was um driving across country 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:11.600 moving to Los Angeles during this election, and I made 0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:16.840 a self made video of my journey, which most of 0:23:16.840 --> 0:23:19.520 which was me singing along to songs on the radio 0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:21.520 in my U haul. And I've still got this. I 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:23.840 should like get it digitized and posted at some point. 0:23:23.840 --> 0:23:27.360 It's pretty funny. But um, I remember very specifically one 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:28.760 part in the in the thing, I woke up in 0:23:28.760 --> 0:23:31.000 New Mexico and i'm you can tell him I'm sleepy, 0:23:31.080 --> 0:23:34.280 and you don't remember going to sleep. I remember going 0:23:34.280 --> 0:23:36.800 to sleep, but I woke up and I said, yeah, 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:39.080 you know here I am in New Mexico. It's weird. 0:23:39.680 --> 0:23:41.280 I woke up this morning and they don't know who 0:23:41.320 --> 0:23:44.440