This MeritBadge Monday, with the events that are coming up tomorrow (Voting Day), we are taking a look at the Citizenship in the Nation merit badge.

Requirement 3 has us watching the news for 5 days and discussing the national issues that are being reported. I’m fairly confident that the evening news, no matter what major network you watch or listen to, will be full of information in the next 5 days. This is predominantly due to the Presidential Election that will take place on November 3rd.

As a side note, despite what your political views are, and no matter which candidate you agree with or disagree with… get out and vote! This is a great time to exercise your rights as a citizen of this great nation. Hence the post for Citizenship in the Nation. Ok, that’s my soap box message on the topic.

During the broadcast of the election race on Tuesday, you will hear a great deal about the Electoral College. In other U.S. elections, candidates are elected directly by popular vote. But the president and vice president are not elected directly by citizens. Instead, they’re chosen by “electors” through a process called the Electoral College. The process of using electors comes from the Constitution. It was a compromise between a popular vote by citizens and a vote in Congress.

The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. Your State has the same number of electors as it does Members in its Congressional delegation: one for each Member in the House of Representatives plus two Senators.