Confusing U.S. Presidential Election

U.S. Presidential election is on November 6. It is very confusing how a person is elected U.S. President. It is not by popular vote. It is how many votes a person gets in “electoral college vote”.

What is an Electoral College vote?

There are 538 Electoral College votes. A candidate has to win 270 votes to win the election. Each state is allotted a number of Electoral College votes depending on the population. It is a winner takes all system*. If a candidate wins popular vote in a particular state, he/she takes all the Electoral College votes of that state. For example, California has 55 and Montana has 3 Electoral College votes. If a candidate wins California’s popular vote, he/she takes all 55 (even if the candidate won the popular vote by one vote only). Therefore, both candidates will concentrate in California and not in Montana.

USA has 50 states. Very very big country by area. It is so huge it has 6 different time zones. Theoretically, if someone puts in all efforts in only 12 states and win all these 12 states, he/she can become President. He/She can ignore the other 38 states. Here are the numbers (states and electoral college votes).

California 55

Texas 38

Florida 29

New York 29

Illinois 20

Pennsylvania 20

Ohio 18

Georgia 16

Michigan 16

Arizona 11

Indiana 11

Oregon 7

Total 270

Is there anyone who won the election but did not win the popular vote? Yes. Here they are:

John Quincy Adams in 1824

Rutherford Hayes in 1874

Benjamin Harrison in 1888

George W. Bush in 2000

Look for a surprise here. Total number of electoral college votes are 538. What if each candidate gets 279 votes and it is a draw? There is a solution in the US Constitution.

The President will be elected by the US House of Representatives.

The Vice President will be elected by the US Senate.

House majority is Republican and so Romney winner.

Senate majority is Democrat and so Biden winner.

That would be fun. Will see what happens on November 6.

PS: * The states of Maine and Nebraska do not have winner take all system. They have “proportional representation” system.

Dog’s Thinking

“Be the kind of person your Dog thinks you are.”

I read this in Insignia’s email ID profile.

That prompted me to write this post. Not about what a dog thinks you are. About what a particular dog thinks who he is.

When Obama was elected President in 2008, he took the oath of office on January 20, 2009. The person to administer the oath was the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, Justice John Roberts. There are only 35 words in the oath:

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Justice Roberts has to say these 35 words without any notes (supposedly).

And, Mr. Obama has to repeat these words.

Murphy’s Law at work. Both Roberts and Obama made a few mistakes while reciting the oath.*

The news goes that Justice Roberts started to memorize by rehearsing these words several times in his home during the prior two weeks. In the living room, in the bathroom, in the dining table, etc. etc. The poor family dog was the recipient of his administering the oath several times.

That news leaked out much later. When a reporter asked about this to Mrs. Roberts, she said:

My husband repeated these 35 words so many times, our dog thinks he is the President of the United States.

Love this impromptu comment. Will they both (Obama and Roberts) meet the second time for the oath-taking ceremony? We will know on the night of November 6.

*PS: Some lawyers (as always) intervened and said there may be a legal challenge to this oath of office later. Therefore, Justice Roberts administered the oath of office to Obama for a second time at a private ceremony.

PPS: Hey Mr. Who Posted This. I can guess what your comment is going to be. Something to the effect Justice Roberts’s dog would do a better job. So, come out with something else that will surprise me.

Election

General Elections in USA are scheduled for Tuesday, November 6. This is the day when people will vote for all sorts of elected office. President, Vice President, Senate, House (ala MP), Governors, State Legislatures, Board of Directors (ward councillors) and so many other offices. Local elections are non-partisan.

I am glad Indian continent origin people are taking part in these elections. Not only people who became U.S. citizens are voting but quite a number of them are running also.  I am an independent and do not have any party affiliation. I live in a small town near San Francisco and the population is less than 3000. I can see so many sings:

Rajesh Dighe for Board of Directors

Tariq Khan for Board of Directors

(first name missing in his posters)

Jass Sangha for Delta College Trustee

Ricky Gill for U.S. Congress (ala MP). Interesting guy. The minimum age to run for Congress is 25. He became 25 years old only last month. If elected, he would be the youngest Congressman. His real first name is Ranjit. Changed to Ricky. Hey, if Piyush Jindal can change his name to Bobby Jindal, why not Ranjit to Ricky. He is an ABCD (American Born Confused Desi)(born in USA) and not a FOB (Fresh Off the Boat)(immigrant from India). Both his parents are doctors and very rich.

Ricky is very intelligent. He is contesting on behalf of Republican Party. He is running in a constituency where Democrats are in a heavy majority. So what did he do? The word “Republican” does not appear in any of his posters.

Where is the fun if we don’t have some controversy? One of the current Board of Directors for our town is Jass Singh. A group of citizens are dissatisfied with his performance. Therefore, this election day there will be a ballot to recall him. Yes, in USA, citizens can recall an elected official through ballot. There are lots of signs “Recall Jass Singh” and “We are with Jass Singh”.

I am confused. Jass Singh is a male and Jass Sangha is a female. Both have same Americanized first name.

Among the local candidates, I am thinking to vote for Rajesh Dighe. The reason: He does not have an Americanized first name.