The Executive Branch

5.3 Electing the President

What are the required qualifications for President?• Qualifications found in Article II,

Section 1, Clause 5, of the Constitution• Be “a natural born citizen.”

– must be born a citizen of the United States to be able to become President

• Is Ted Cruz eligible to be president?

• Be at least 35 years of age– JFK at age 43 was the youngest person to

be elected President– TR was 42 (McKinley assassination)

• Be a resident of US for at least 14 years• Other important factors

Thomas Jefferson-proficient in philosophy, mathematics, history, French, Latin and Greek.-Author of Declaration of IndependenceArchitect of MonticelloFounder of University of Virginia

Ronald Reagan-Worked as a lifeguard while heattended Eureka College-worked as Chicago cubs radio announcer-B-movie actor during 40s and 50s-spokesman for GE-2 term governor of California

How is the president elected?• Campaign

– When a Candidate “runs” for office– Explains his plan for how he/she will run the nation

& why he is the best choice• Nomination

– Most viable candidate is backed by political party• Electoral College

– Voters go to a polling place and select their choice• really vote for a member of the Electoral College

– Each state has a certain number of electors • Based on the number of representatives + 2

senators• Candidate who gets 270 wins the election

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What are “red state”, “blue states”, and “swing states”?

• Term for Red States– Likely to vote Republican

• Blue States– Likely to vote Democratic

• Swing States– Could go either way– Also known as battleground

states• Coined by journalist Tim Russert,

during his televised coverage of the 2000 presidential election

Based on the map above, which states will candidates likely campaign in the most?

What happened in the 2000 Election?• Al Gore v George W. Bush• Al Gore received more

Popular Votes than George W. Bush– About ½ million more

people voted for Gore than Bush

• But Bush received more electoral votes– Won most important states

• Bush won the election

Why was the 2000 election so controversial?• Florida

– Worth 25 electoral votes– Major voting problems

• Some votes were not counted– Hanging chads

» If voters failed to make “clean” punches, computers unable to read card and vote does not count

» Florida attempted to recount the ballots by hand but were halted by Supreme Court

• Confusing ballots– Voters uncertain who they were voting for

• Bush v Gore– Supreme Court ordered Florida to stop counting ballots– Said it could not be done fairly– Bush won election

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Ticket OutNewspaper Headline

• Pretend that you are a reporter during the 2000 election.• Write a Headline, a paragraph that summarizes what happened

and a paragraph of your opinion of this election