ELECTION 2012
AND THE WINNER IS...
Election Project
Mrs. Volz
Math Class
Introduction: On Tuesday November 6, 2012 Americans will go to the polls to vote for President of the
United States of America. We will be analyzing the process and the election from a mathematical point of
view. For purposes of this project The District of Columbia will count as a 51st state. We will be using our
textbooks and internet sources to create charts, graphs and look at ratio and percentage. You will
compile your work into a report that will be graded.
I. Map Work
1. Complete the chart with the number of ELECTORAL VOTES that each has.
STATE ELECTORA STATE ELECTORA
L VOTES L VOTES
Alabama Montana
Alaska Nebraska
Arizona Nevada
Arkansas New Hampshire
California New Jersey
Colorado New Mexico
Connecticut New York
Delaware North Carolina
District of Columbia North Dakota
Florida Ohio
Georgia Oklahoma
Hawaii Oregon
Idaho Pennsylvania
Illinois Rhode Island
Indiana South Carolina
Iowa South Dakota
Kansas Tennessee
Kentucky Texas
Louisiana Utah
Maine Vermont
Maryland Virginia
Massachusetts Washington
Michigan West Virginia
Minnesota Wisconsin
Mississippi Wyoming
Missouri
Go to this website:
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/usstates/electorl.htm
2. To win the presidency a candidate must win at least 270 electoral votes. What is the fewest
number of states a candidate could win to carry the election? Show your work!
3. If a candidate wins only the states that have a single digit number of electors how many states
would he win? Would he have enough electoral votes to win? Explain.
4.
a. Choose two different colored pencils and shade the states where Romney got the majority of
votes one color and the states where Obama got the majority another.
b. Create a key
c. With a third pencil or marker outline the territory through which the FALL tour travelled. You
will need to make sure these states are outlined: MD, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, TN
(I will be giving them a web site after the election)
II. Measures of Central Tendency:
1. Use the glossary in your textbook to write a good definition for each of these terms:
Mean:
Median:
Range:
Mode:
2. Stem-and-Leaf Plot
Create a stem-and-leaf plot that shows the number of electoral votes each state has. A few have
been done for you and a key has been created
Electoral Votes per State
0 33333333
1 0000
1 0 = 10
3. Use the Stem-and-Leaf Graph to answer the questions. Round all answers to the nearest tenth.
a. What is the mean? c. What is the median?
b. What is the range d. What is the mode? How often does the mode occur?
III. Popular Votes and Electoral Votes
1. Complete the chart using the following web site: (I will assign one after the election )
Candidate #of Popular % Popular #of Electoral %of Electoral #of States
Votes Vote Votes Vote won
Mitt Romney
Barack Obama
All Others
2. What was the difference in popular votes between the winning candidate and the losing
candidate?
3. What was the difference in electoral votes between the winning candidate and the losing
candidate?
4. What was the difference in states won between the winning candidate and the losing
candidate?
5. What percent of states did the winning candidate win? (Don’t forget we are including
Washington, DC as a state)
IV. Pie Graphs and Bar Graphs: http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/CreateAGraph/
1. Pie Graphs
a. Follow the steps to create two pie graphs
i. Comparison of popular votes
ii. Comparison of electoral votes
b. Be sure your pie graphs are easy to read
i. Titles
ii. Keys
2. Bar Graphs
a. Follow the steps to create two bar graphs
i. Comparison of popular votes
ii. Comparison of electoral votes
b. Be sure your bar graphs are easy to read
i. Titles
ii. Keys
Questions:
3. Looking at the pie chart and bar graph showing the electoral votes, which do
you feel best shows the election results? Explain your answer.
4. Looking at the pie chart and bar graph showing the popular votes, which do
you feel best shows the election results? Explain your answer.
V. Ratios
1. Define Ratio
2. Define Percentage
3. How many electoral votes were available in the area circled as the Fall Tour?
4. Write a ratio of the number of electoral votes Mitt Romney received in the Fall
Tour area to the total number available. Reduce if possible.
5. Write a ratio of the number of electoral votes Barack Obama received in the
Fall Tour area to the total number available. Reduce if possible.
6. Describe in 3 to 5 complete sentences how Romney and Obama’s electoral
votes compared in the area visited by the Fall Tour. If you were on this tour
you may want to include personal observations or experiences.
VI. Percentages
1. Define Percent
2. To win the presidency a candidate must win 270 electoral votes. What percentage of
electoral votes must be won? (round to the tenths).
Use the website:
3. How many counties are in the state of NJ? Write as a fraction AND a percent the
counties that were carried by EACH candidate.
4. Choose a state from the Fall Tour Area. Which state did you choose?
____________________________ How many counties are in that state?__________ Write as a
fraction AND a percent the counties that were carried by EACH candidate.
5. Choose another state. Which state did you choose? _________________________________
How many counties are in that state? _____________ Write as a fraction AND a percent
the counties that were carried by EACH candidate.
VII. Putting Your Project Together
Once completed check over your work and make sure everything is answered
completely!
Now get a report cover from Mrs. Volz
Create a cover page. This information MUST be included:
o Your name (first and last)
o Title for your project
o Class
o My name
o The due date
Your cover page may include any pictures you choose as long as it is not distracting
from the information and is RESPECTFUL
Grading Rubric
Section Excellent (10 pts) Good (9pts) Fair (7-8 pts) Poor (6 or less)
All questions in the Most questions in the Some questions in Few or no questions
section are answered section are answered the section are in the section are
completely and completely and answered completely answered completely
accurately. accurately. and accurately. and accurately
Map Work
Measures of Central
Tendency
Popular and
Electoral Votes
Pie and Bar Graphs
Ratios
Percentages
Overall Appearance The project is put The project is a bit The project is a bit The project is very
together very neatly. All messy or a piece of messy and a piece of messy and/or more
information is displayed information is information is than one piece of
on the cover. 5 pts. missing from the missing from the information is
cover. 4 pts cover. 3 pts. missing from the
cover. 2pts or less
❑
Name ___________________________________ Grade 65 _______________________________%
