Does my vote count? Understanding the electoral college

Evauating your state's interests

Use the following resources to gather background information on your state:

• U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts
• ElectionReform.org: electoral college reform. Use the resources linked from this page to determine what your state's vote would have been in 1996 and 2000 under the various proposals for reform.
• FairData's Congressional Constituency Maps. Follow the instructions on this page to view maps with information about congressional districts in all 50 states, including population, political party affiliation, and more.

Basic information

1. What was your state's population in 2000?
2. How many congressional districts did your state have in 2000? (Use the information from 2000, because FairData doesn't have current data available yet.)
3. How many electoral votes did your state have in 2000?
4. To which candidate(s) did your state's electoral votes go in 2000?
5. How would your state's electoral votes have been proportioned under each of the following methods of voting (see the discussion guidelines for an explanation):
   1. proportional voting
   2. congressional district voting
   3. Humphrey compromise
6. What was the weight of an individual vote in your state in the 2000 presidential election? (Use the method in part 4 of the reading.)

Evaluation

1. Given your state's size, which of the following proposals would give your state more or less of a say in a presidential election? Which would give individual voters more or less of a say?
   1. direct popular election
   2. proportional voting
   3. congressional district voting
   4. Humphrey compromise
2. Does your state have particular geographic interests that deserve special representation? Do these interests justify giving electoral votes to the entire state?
3. Is there a great deal of variation among the congressional districts of your state? In what way (race, political party affiliation, poverty level, etc.)? Do these variations justify a plan in which individual districts have electoral votes?
4. Would an individual vote in your state have "weighed" more or less under each of the following alternative methods of voting:
   1. direct popular election
   2. proportional voting
   3. congressional district voting
   4. Humphrey compromise
   If you can't tell or if you think it would depend on some other factor, explain.