History Repeats?
1916 Election Parallel
Abridged Story
From a news story by
CNN San Francisco Reporter Don Knapp
November 11, 2000
The presidential election had lots of problems.
A history professor tells about the electoral confusion. For instance,
in Los Angeles, there were more votes than ballots. In New Hampshire,
they switched the votes for the candidates.
Professor Bimes is not talking about the election 2000, but about the
presidential election of 1916. This election was between Democrat Woodrow
Wilson and the Republican Charles Evans Hughes.
People said there was cheating. Some ballots were thrown out because
it seemed that some voters had voted twice. People wanted to recount
the ballots.
California's 13 electoral votes would decide the election. One area
in the Sierra Nevada Mountains was very important because the votes
were late. That area is now called Wilsonia.
"Hughes Probably Elected" says the SF Chronicle headline from
the day after the election in 1916. Hughes had a small lead over President
Wilson. Heavy snow in the mountains kept the votes from being counted.
It took another day for the horse drawn wagons to bring the ballot boxes.
After these votes were counted, Wilson won.
This year's election is somewhat like the one in 1916. This is very
exciting for the students in the American presidency class.
Additional Notes:
The article refers to California's 13 electoral votes. What does this
mean?
The Constitution of the United States tells how the President and the
Vice-President are chosen. The President and Vice-President are elected
by an "Electoral College", rather than by direct popular vote.
Each state is given "electoral votes" equal to the total number
of Senators and Representatives in that state. The District of Columbia
has 3 electoral votes. On election day, voters are actually voting for
Electoral College members who promise to vote for the candidates of
their respective political parties. In all but two states the party
with the greatest number of votes receives all the electoral votes for
that state. Nebraska and Maine allow their electoral votes to be split
among candidates.
In order to win, a party's Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates
must receive one more than half of the total of number of electoral
votes. If no candidates have this number of votes, then the House of
Representatives decides the election.
In 2000 California has 54 votes out of the total of 538 electoral votes.
A candidate needs 270 to be elected.
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