Amendment 23

1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct: A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

This amendment states that the District of Columbia will be given electoral votes. This amendment was very necessary because the District of Columbia is such a populated area. DC has 3 electoral votes, the same as the least populated state, Rhode Island.

2000

CNN.com



(Bush - Gore)


The 2000 Presidential Election was the most recent election where the popular vote winner was not elected. George W. Bush, son of former President George H.W. Bush, ran on the Republican ticket against Democratic candidate, and the sitting Vice President, Al Gore.


Though Gore held a slim popular vote victory of 543,895 (0.5%), Bush won the Electoral College 271-266, with one Gore Elector abstaining.


The election was plagued with allegations of voter fraud and disenfranchisement. Rumors of illegal road blocks, unclear ballots, and uncounted votes, particularly in swing states like Missouri and Florida, were rampant.


Florida became the key state as the election drew to a close. Consisting of nearly 6 million voters, Florida was officially won by a margin of 537 votes, after a process of recounting the votes and a Supreme Court ruling.


Voters complained about confusing ballots and many Florida voters believed that they accidentally voted for Pat Buchanan, a conservative running on the Reform ticket, when they meant to vote for Al Gore.


Another significant candidate in the 2000 election was Green Party candidate, Ralph Nader. Nader attracted just under 3% of voters with a progressive platform focused on social and environmental issues.


Democratic supporters targeted Nader as being a “spoiler” for Al Gore. Since Nader was left-of-center, Democrats argued that most of his voters would have otherwise supported Gore. In such a close election, many believe that Gore would have won if Nader had dropped out of the race.


The 2000 election resulted in numerous court battles over contested ballots and recounts. These lawsuits escalated to the U.S. Supreme Court where the final, 5-4 decision was made, ending the recounts and giving the state of Florida's Electoral votes to George W. Bush.


In the end, Gore conceded the election publicly, though he did not hide his displeasure at the Supreme Court’s ruling.

This article discusses the 2000 in which the electoral votes determined a winner different than the popular vote. It is one example of why electoral votes are so important, giving more reasoning for why DC citizens are deserving of this right.



I watched this video in grade school when learning about the electoral college. It discusses electoral votes and why they have so much influence.