fandomhigh | US Government [Friday, March 30, 1st period]

Josh was mainlining coffee like he'd never seen the stuff before in his life. He hated mornings.

He gestured to a map on the board. "Every state and the District of Columbia is worth a certain number of electoral votes, which are used--rather than a straight popular vote--to determine who becomes President. A state's electoral vote number is the combination of the number of representatives it has in Congress added to its two Senators. Every state, therefore, has at least 3 electoral votes. California, with the most population, has 55 electoral votes.

"There are 538 electoral votes up for grabs--you need at least 270 of them to become President. In the history of the United States there have been four elections where the person who became President didn't also win the popular vote--1824, 1876, 1888 and 2000."

Josh scrubbed his hands through his hair. "There is always someone trying to abolish the electoral college, and the debate both for and against it have been raging since roughly 1824. Proponents say that it requires candidates to spend time in states that they'd normally avoid--Iowa, for instance, or Michigan--and tailor their message to the entire country rather than focussing exclusively on California, Texas, and Florida, where the population is. Opponents say that with a winner-take-all distribution of electoral college votes--a candidate can win a state by 40 votes and still get all of the electoral votes--it disenfranchises the voters who cast ballots for the other guy." He gestured lazily at the class. "What do you think?"

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Dawn facepalmed. Yup, almost exactly like electing Xander. Or Xander and Anya's love child. "Yes. With the half-life of plutonium."

"But not actually using plutonium," Josh said. "My friend Sam checked into it."

"I...oh my god, you people run the government? Aren't you supposed to be, I don't know, less like Scoobies and more like adults?" Dawn asked incredulously.

"You'd think so, huh?" Josh said, grinning. "But we're positively sane compared to the Cartographers for Social Equality."

Wondering if she needed a protection spell before she came to this class anymore, Dawn asked, "The who?"

"Crazy mapmakers," Josh said. "I don't think they've found Brigadoon yet, though." He shrugged. "I don't know. I wasn't paying much attention to their briefing."

Brigadoon? "They were looking? Is there, like, a Fandom West that we don't know about where this seems more normal?"

Josh shrugged again. "Dunno. That's what Big Block of Cheese Day brought out--the total crackpots."

"You like the people who believe in vampires and are friends with aliens?" Dawn asked innocently.

Josh smirked. "And the ones who want wolf-only highways."

"There's no way you can get a werewolf to stick to the highway," Dawn said without thinking.

"But will they ask for directions if they get lost?" Josh asked, eyes twinkling.

Dawn grinned back, "Only the girls."

US Government [Friday, March 30, 1st period]

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