BlackBallot.com Special Report On the Electoral College

Alabama	4,369,862.00	1,138,726.00	26.06%	9
Alaska	619,500.00	24,067.00	3.88%	3
Arizona	4,778,332.00	175,506.00	3.67%	10
Arkansas	2,551,373.00	410,821.00	16.10%	6
California	33,145,121.00	2,487,006.00	7.50%	55
Colorodo	4,056,133.00	176,277.00	4.35%	9
Connecticut	3,282,031.00	308,772.00	9.41%	7
Deleware	753,538.00	149,290.00	19.81%	3
DC	519,000.00	318,657.00	61.40%	3
Florida	15,111,244.00	2,333,424.00	15.44%	27
Georgia	7,788,240.00	2,235,897.00	28.71%	15
Hawaii	1,185,497.00	33,752.00	2.85%	4
Idaho	1,251,700.00	7,561.00	0.60%	4
Illinois	12,128,370.00	1,854,173.00	15.29%	21
Indiana	5,942,901.00	497,976.00	8.38%	11
Iowa	2,869,413.00	58,013.00	2.02%	7
Kansas	2,654,052.00	157,176.00	5.92%	6
Kentucky	3,960,825.00	288,336.00	7.28%	8
Louisiana	4,370,235.00	1,415,195.00	32.38%	9
Maine	1,253,040.00	6,258.00	0.50%	4
Maryland	5,171,634.00	1,454,381.00	28.12%	10
Massachusetts	6,175,169.00	405,159.00	6.56%	12
Michigan	9,863,775.00	1,415,201.00	14.35%	17
Minnesota	4,775,508.00	148,596.00	3.11%	10
Mississippi	2,768,619.00	1,010,216.00	36.49%	6
Missouri	5,468,338.00	617,148.00	11.29%	11
Montana	882,779.00	3,168.00	0.36%	3
Nebraska	1,666,028.00	68,067.00	4.09%	5
Nevada	1,809,253.00	140,031.00	7.74%	5
New Hampshire	1,201,134.00	9,044.00	0.75%	4
New Jersey	8,143,412.00	1,197,430.00	14.70%	15
New Mexico	1,739,844.00	45,792.00	2.63%	5
New York	18,196,601.00	3,222,461.00	17.71%	31
North Carolina	7,650,789.00	1,686,143.00	22.04%	15
North Dakota	633,666.00	4,118.00	0.65%	3
Ohio	11,256,654.00	1,304,126.00	11.59%	20
Oklahoma	3,358,044.00	262,136.00	7.81%	7
Oregon	3,316,154.00	62,012.00	1.87%	7
Pennsylvania	11,994,016.00	1,170,095.00	9.76%	21
Rhode Island	990,819.00	50,292.00	5.08%	4
South Carolina	3,885,736.00	1,156,946.00	29.77%	8
South Dakota	733,133.00	5,099.00	0.70%	3
Tennessee	5,483,535.00	912,577.00	16.64%	11
Texas	20,044,141.00	2,470,194.00	12.32%	34
Utah	2,129,836.00	19,481.00	0.91%	5
Vermont	593,740.00	3,184.00	0.54%	3
Virgina	6,872,912.00	1,384,651.00	20.15%	13
Washington	5,756,361.00	203,853.00	3.54%	11
West Virgina	1,806,928.00	56,108.00	3.11%	5
Wisconsin	5,250,446.00	293,367.00	5.59%	10
Wyoming	479,602.00	4,210.00	0.88%	3

The Electoral College is the system developed by the founding fathers of America to decide the final fate of all Presidential Elections. The system was developed in order to ensure that no individual region or state would be able to dominate the national electoral process. When an individual casts a vote for the President and Vice President of the United Sates he or she is actually voting for State Electors who will then cast the final vote for President and Vice President.

The manner in which State Electors are chosen varies from State to State. The writers of the Constitution decided to allow each State legislature to decide how Electors from their particular state would be selected. Electors are chosen either by popular vote, directly by the legislature, or a combination of both. The initial design of the Electoral College is articulated in Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution. Each state is allocated Electoral College votes based upon the ratio of representation in Congress. The amount of U.S. Representatives in Congress changes with the population of the State.

There have been seven State Electors this century who have decided to vote their conscience instead of their party's candidate. The most recent occurrence of a "faithless" Elector was in 1988 when a Democrat Elector from the State of West Virginia cast his vote for Lloyd Bensen for president and Michael Dukakis for vice president. To see how each state deals with faithless Electors click here. Fortunately, faithless Electors have never decided the fate of an election.

2000 1996 1992 1988 1984 1980 1976 1972 1968

It helps. African Americans are 12.3 % of the American Population. The U.S. Census estimates that in 2003 there were 35,769,602 Black people in America. The above table is an analysis of the African American population for each State in the Union. The States highlighted in purple have a Black population of more than 20% ,States in Black have a %10 or more Black population.

The regions of the Unites States where the Black Population account for 20% or more of the total population, represent 17% or 91 out of the total 538 African Americans were the only race or ethnic group to defy the trend of declining voter participation in congressional elections. The national average for the 1998 Congressional election was 42% and the Average for African Americans was 40%. For verification of this statistic click here for press the release from Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. African Americans are 12.3% of the population, but theoretically could control 17% of the electoral college.

The total Electoral College votes for States where the Black population is 10% or more is 290 out of 538 or 54% of the Electoral College. America has become increasingly conservative, click here to see map of Republican vs. Democratic votes per county for the 2000 U.S. Presidential election. African Americans via population distribution nation wide are a significant swing vote in 54% of the Electoral College.

Each State is allocated a number of Electors equal to the number of its U.S. Senators (always 2) plus the number of its U.S. Representatives (which may change each decade according to the size of each State's population as determined in the Census).

The political parties (or independent candidates) in each State submit to the State's chief election official a list of individuals pledged to their candidate for president and equal in number to the State's electoral vote. Usually, the major political parties select these individuals either in their State party conventions or through appointment by their State party leaders while third parties and independent candidates merely designate theirs.

Members of Congress and employees of the federal government are prohibited from serving as an Elector in order to maintain the balance between the legislative and executive branches of the federal government.

After their caucuses and primaries, the major parties nominate their candidates for president and vice president in their national conventions traditionally held in the summer preceding the election. (Third parties and independent candidates follow different procedures according to the individual State laws). The names of the duly nominated candidates are then officially submitted to each State's chief election official so that they might appear on the general election ballot.

On the Tuesday following the first Monday of November in years divisible by four, the people in each State cast their ballots for the party slate of Electors representing their choice for president and vice president (although as a matter of practice, general election ballots normally say "Electors for" each set of candidates rather than list the individual Electors on each slate).

Whichever party slate wins the most popular votes in the State becomes that State's Electors-so that, in effect, whichever presidential ticket gets the most popular votes in a State wins all the Electors of that State. [The two exceptions to this are Maine and Nebraska where two Electors are chosen by statewide popular vote and the remainder by the popular vote within each Congressional district].

On the Monday following the second Wednesday of December (as established in federal law) each State's Electors meet in their respective State capitals and cast their electoral votes-one for president and one for vice president.

In order to prevent Electors from voting only for "favorite sons" of their home State, at least one of their votes must be for a person from outside their State (though this is seldom a problem since the parties have consistently nominated presidential and vice presidential candidates from different States).

The electoral votes are then sealed and transmitted from each State to the President of the Senate who, on the following January 6, opens and reads them before both houses of the Congress.

The candidate for president with the most electoral votes, provided that it is an absolute majority (one over half of the total), is declared president. Similarly, the vice presidential candidate with the absolute majority of electoral votes is declared vice president.

In the event no one obtains an absolute majority of electoral votes for president, the U.S. House of Representatives (as the chamber closest to the people) selects the president from among the top three contenders with each State casting only one vote and an absolute majority of the States being required to elect. Similarly, if no one obtains an absolute majority for vice president, then the U.S. Senate makes the selection from among the top two contenders for that office.

At noon on January 20, the duly elected president and vice president are sworn into office.

Occasionally questions arise about what would happen if the pesidential or vice presidential candidate died at some point in this process.For answers to these, as well as to a number of other "what if" questions, readers are advised to consult a small volume entitled After the People Vote: Steps in Choosing the President edited by Walter Berns and published in 1983 by the American Enterprise Institute. Similarly, further details on the history and current functioning of the Electoral College are available in the second edition of Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, a real goldmine of information, maps, and statistics.

African Americans were virtually disenfranchised until the passing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Since the 1968 election the Republicans have held the Presidency for 24 out of the 36 years, 66% of the time. African Americans vote as a collective unit, and have become the backbone of the Democratic party. The Democratic party has become dependent upon the 91% of the African American vote that it annually receives.

If African Americans, can continually increase their levels of participation in and sophistication of the American electoral process the potential is unlimited. However the American electoral process is quite convoluted, and as we have seen in the 2000 Florida Election scandal, contains many holes through which the process can be manipulated. Ronald Regan actually won the 2000 Presidential election when he stacked the U.S. Supreme court with conservative Justices in the 1980s. Please click here for a historical analysis of the U.S. Electoral system by William C. Kimberling, Deputy Director of the FEC Office of Election Administration.

For detailed information on every Presidential Election in United States history please visit, www.presidentelect.org. The website provides information and a graphical analysis of every U.S. Presidential election and their Electoral College data. You will find election results, history, Electoral College debate, and much more.