Election Math

When I was in school I didn't quite understand how a president could win the popular vote but loose the election. The problem was frequently mentioned, but not explained well enough for me. It turns out that the math involved in understanding how this is even possible is around a third grade level. Adding large numbers and determining which number is greater are the only two skills required. Understanding how the electoral collage works is an important feature to understanding American government.

In conjunction with our crash course in American Government we did this simple worksheet I created. You are welcome to print it for personal use.

Election Math Sheet 1
Election Math Sheet 2

The two sheets contain mock election results for six different elections. In each election the results for the same four states are given. To complete the worksheets first determine if the Stars or Stripes received the electoral votes for the state by determining if the total votes for Stars or Stripes is bigger. Next total up the electoral votes for Stars and for Stripes for each election. The higher total of electoral votes wins the election.

Next, to see who won the popular vote for the election, total up the votes for Stars and the votes for Stripes for each election. Circle the winner for the electoral vote in red. Circle the winner for the popular vote in blue. Are they the same?

This is a great activity to follow up with a writing assignment.
Do you think this system is fair? Why or why not? If you don't think it is fair, how would you change it?
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6 comments:

  1. Heidi @ Home SchoolroomNovember 3, 2012 at 7:37 AM

    Thank you for the free math worksheet! My daughter doesn't love math, but is fascinated with the election this year so I think it's a fun way to practice math with a topic she's interested in.

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  2. JulieNovember 4, 2012 at 12:10 PM

    What a great idea! Thanks for sharing the worksheets. And thanks for linking up with the Afterschool Linkup!

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  3. SusanNovember 5, 2012 at 5:15 PM

    Thanks for sharing this at Favorite Resources :)

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  4. Amy MazeNovember 12, 2012 at 3:25 PM

    Great idea to have 'mock' elections to practice figuring out how a candidate gets to win an election.My kids are definitely not at a 3rd grade math level yet =) but it's a great idea for the future! Thanks for sharing it with us at Trivium Tuesdays! I'm going to pin this for future reference!

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  5. Beth (www.livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com)November 12, 2012 at 3:27 PM

    What a great idea!!

    Thanks for linking up to TGIF! Have a great week,
    Beth =-)

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  6. Leah CourtneyNovember 11, 2016 at 12:31 PM

    This is a good way to explain the way that electorate votes work. We had this discussion quite frequently Tuesday night. :-) Thank you for linking up with LMM.

    ReplyDelete

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