Election Trivia

[ciba]

What is the minimum number of votes constitutionally required for someone to be elected president, given the current electoral college allocation and excluding faithless electors.

 

[daveshel]

270 as I recall.

 

[ciba]

Clarification: Number of citizen-cast votes, not electoral votes.

 

[PELarson]

If 1 voter per state voted and voted for the same candidate when the number of electoral college delegates reached 270 for that candidate that would be the number of votes needed to win the election.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: ciba
Clarification: Number of citizen-cast votes, not electoral votes.

it's slightly less than 1/4 of votes cast, since some states have higher electoral votes/capita than others. so assuming every state won is by 1 vote, similar turnout rates in each state, and every state lost the candidate gained no votes, you can get by the 270 marker with just less than 1/4.

but to use such an extreme as an indictment of the system would be fallacious

 

[ciba]

PELarson has the right answer. I believe it is eleven.