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Introduction
Every four years, eligible voters in the United States come out
to the polls in order to contribute
their vote towards the election of the next President and Vice
President of the Unites States. In
!", the number of #mericans eligible to vote was "$,%&%,!!!.
'ue to the fact that there are so
many votes, there is a special system used in order to determine
the results of election night. (he
Electoral )ollege is that very system. Even though the Electoral
)ollege as has been used since
the days of our founding fathers, many people have very little
*nowledge of how it wor*s. +any
#mericans continue not to vote in elections, simply because they
do not thin* that their vote can
ma*e a difference. n the contrary, voting on Election 'ay
remains one of the greatest rights that
#mericans often ta*e for granted.
Statement of Task
(he topic that I will be exploring is the #merican Election
process. I will also explore how votes
are counted and how districts are drawn and how that affects the
chances of winning. Some more
-uestions that I will be exploring, in a mathematical sense, are
how many electoral votes are
needed to elect the president/ 0ow many Electoral )ollege votes
are needed in order to win the
presidency/ Primarily, I want to explore the fundamental and
mathematical basis of the Electoral
)ollege. (he overarching -uestion that this exploration will
wor* to answer is1 0ow much is
your vote worth in the national election/
Plan of Investigation
I am investigating the affect that a vote can have on the
outcome of the #merican presidential
election, based off of the Electoral )ollege System. (he primary
types of mathematical processes
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that contributed to my research are 'escriptive statistics,
2ogic, sets and probability, and
additional statistical applications.
Exploration
In the United States, rather than voting directly for the
presidential candidate that you wish to see
in office, the Electoral )ollege prompts voters to vote for
electors3whose sole duty it is to elect
a president and vice4president of the United States5.
)onse-uently, it is possible to lose an
election while having the popular vote of voting citi6ens.
Kennedy-Nixon (1960) vs. Bush-Gore (2000)
PRESIDENT EV States Won Percent Votes
7US0 8" 9! :$.! &!,:&;,";%
E??E'@ 9!9 9 :%.8 9:,",9:%
?IA? "% ; :%.; 9:,"!$,&:;
Source1 http1BBwww.uselectionatlas.orgBUSP=ESI'E?(
(he Electoral )ollege contains &9$ electors, which are
comprised of :9& members of the 0ouse
of =epresentatives and "!! members of the Senate plus the three
electors that are given to
Cashington '.). Deven though it is not a state.
&9$9"!!:9& =++
+embers
