OFFSET
1,1
COMMENTS
One of the first eight terms is for Washington, D.C. Sum_{i=1..51} a(i) = 538, so 270 electoral votes provide the simple majority required for election. Most states' electoral votes are cast entirely for the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates receiving their states' most popular votes during the American general election, but this is not always the case. For the following, the usual case is always assumed to hold: 1) Sum_{i=1..41} a(i) = 282, so the total electoral votes of any 41 states (or of any 40 states plus D.C.) ensure election. 2) Sum_{i=41..51} a(i) = 271: Winning as few as 11 states can be enough. The Federal Election Commission link provides electoral vote distributions for this and other decades (terms taken from version with "Last Update: 10/3/03"). An interesting problem and sequence would be: Combinations of exactly n states producing a U.S.A. Electoral Vote victory (under the same distribution and assumption).
It is a lesser-known fact that if no candidate wins 270 electoral votes then the U.S. House of Representatives chooses the President from amongst the top three electoral-vote-getters. It is therefore possible to become President without receiving a majority of the popular vote or a majority of the electoral vote. In fact, theoretically, a person can become President after receiving as few as one or two electoral votes.
LINKS
Federal Election Commission, Distribution of Electoral Votes.
FORMULA
These are equal to the number of representatives (proportional to population as determined by official census counts required to be collected every decade, but always at least 1) plus the number of senators (always 2) for each state and arbitrarily set to 3 for the District of Columbia.
CROSSREFS
KEYWORD
fini,full,nonn
AUTHOR
Rick L. Shepherd, Mar 06 2004
EXTENSIONS
Formula corrected by Alan Frank, Sep 19 2010
STATUS
approved