- Hey, what's up and welcome
to "Internet Expert."
This is the game where you
and your laptop can save democracy.
I'm Malik Mercier, your host.
And this week we're excavating
everyone's favorite election
relic, the electoral college.
(upbeat music)
US presidential elections aren't decided
by the popular vote alone.
They're decided by the electoral college,
which is a process, not a place.
Each state has a different
number of electoral votes
and a presidential candidate
needs a certain number
of those votes in order to win.
So to win today's game,
contestants won't be earning points.
They'll be earning electoral votes.
Let's meet our contestants.
Bethany is a comedian and cohost
of Nova's new series "Parentalogic."
Hi Bethany.
- Hi, hi Malik, very excited to be here.
I've got my son's safari vest on
since we're going on
a quest for knowledge.
- I love that so much.
We also have Alok here.
He's a pediatrician, and
Bethany's "Parentalogic" cohost.
How's it going, Alok?
- I don't have a safari vest to wear,
so I do feel like I'm
underprepared for this,
but I'm ready to go.
- This is a high stakes competition.
Bethany, tell me a little
bit about your rivalry,
the relationship with Alok.
- Alok knows everything about kids
'cause he's a doctor and he
studied them scientifically.
And I know everything about
kids because I have them.
My body made them.
- Bethany is right.
Listen, I can tell you about
textbook pediatric knowledge,
but not actually how to feed them.
(upbeat music)
- Bethany, what does Alok
have to do if you win?
- Alok, who is a public advocate
for health safety around
COVID mask wearing,
so my challenge for Alok
is to bedazzle a mask
and then post it to your social
media, wearing it in public.
(Bethany laughs)
- Oh my gosh.
All right, I'm down.
So the good thing about Bethany,
or her street name, BVD,
is when we are filming
episode, the "Parentalogic,"
and we have these little breaks,
Bethany often busts out
into song and dance.
And she has a one-up on everyone
because she knows all these
awesome children's songs.
So if I win, Bethany has to throw down
a children's nursery song, right?
But it needs to be done
in hip-hop fashion.
- Let's start the game so that
we can find out what happens.
First challenge is In It to Win It.
I want you to find out how
many electors there are
and how many a presidential
candidate needs to win.
Are you ready?
Go.
(tense music)
- Got it.
- What is your answer, Bethany?
- There are 538 electors.
And in order to win, you need 270.
A presidential candidate needs 270.
(chime rings)
(crowd cheers)
- That's right.
So to win today's game, you
need to get 270 electoral votes.
This map is divided into five regions
identified by two shades
of the same color.
In each challenge, a region is at stake.
If you win, you get to pick one shade
of the color in that region
and you get the electoral
votes in that section.
Your opponent gets the leftovers.
Bethany, which shade purple do you pick?
- Texas, please.
- [Malik] Okay, Alok, you
get what's next to it.
So you'll have the one to the right
of that with Arkansas and Louisiana.
- Okay, I'll take it.
- So Bethany, you chose the
one with less electoral votes.
So you have 50 electoral votes,
and Alok, you chose the one with more,
or you got the one with more,
so you have 83 electoral votes.
- Sounds unfair.
- Challenge two is
called Elector Selector.
Starting on the website
for the National Archives,
you have to answer three questions
about electors and how they are chosen.
Answer two out of three
of these correctly,
and you get to pick the next
batch of electoral votes.
Question number one,
how is the number of electors
per state determined?
(tense music)
- Let's see.
- Got it.
The amount of electors they get,
there's a value that's proportional
to the state's population plus
two for each state senators
plus one as a house of rep vote.
So that's three plus the amount
that's proportional to
the state's population.
(chime rings)
(crowd cheers)
- That is correct.
Question two, how do states
choose their electors?
(tense music)
- I got it.
- Bethany, I'd love to hear
it, what's your answer?
- Okay, it's a two-part process.
The political parties in each state
choose slates of potential electors,
sometimes before the general election.
And then second part is
during the general election,
the voters in each state select
their state's electors
by casting a ballot.
(chime rings)
(crowd cheers)
- You are a hundred percent correct there.
All right, so now it's down
to the best two out of three.
This is the last question.
What qualifications are
required to be an elector?
- A lack of typing agility
is definitely going to crush me here.
- Alok, I see your hand.
- Got it.
- [Malik] Okay, what's your answer?
- It says, what are the
qualifications to be an elector?
Well, the Constitution doesn't really
have a lot of qualifications about it,
but Article II Section 1 Clause 2,
in case you're wondering which clause,
says no senator or
representative or person
holding an office or trust
or profit under the US
shall be appointed an elector.
So I'm tempted to say, anyone can.
I think my answer might be wrong.
- I think we can take it.
(chime rings)
(crowd cheers)
- I mean, literally it
basically says anyone can do it
as long as they're not a
senator or a representative,
or they haven't engaged in
an insurrection or rebellion
against the United States
or given aid to its enemies.
- That is correct.
So Alok, you got two out of
three right in that challenge,
meaning you get to pick
one of the oranges.
- I'm gonna take that
California, kind of Tropicana,
maybe Donald Duck orange.
- You have to, look at
all your electoral votes.
You gotta do it.
Look, this rivalry is gonna be the worst
'cause I'm gonna be cheering
you on the whole time.
- I got Arizona, Arizona
pride in there also.
- Yeah, definitely.
- Great choice, Alok.
You now have 156 up from 83 electors.
Bethany, you now have 85.
Your next challenge is
called The Old College Try.
Starting on archives.gov, figure out how
and when you can find out
who your electors are.
Question one.
When are electors officially appointed?
- Who designed this website?
- Yeah, it's so sticky.
- Seriously National Archives
needs to go to Wix or something.
Archives.gov was made like
when the archives were made.
- It's hard to navigate this website.
I mean, that's such an excuse, right?
All right, you go 'cause you found it.
- You guys are throwing so much
shade at National Archives.
- Can I say got it?
- Yes.
- Yep.
- According to the
Constitution and federal law,
there isn't a strict
method of appointment.
It just requires that
electors be appointed
on the Tuesday after the
first Monday in November.
- You double got that.
(chime rings)
(crowd cheers)
- Yes, okay, so each state
and the district of Columbia
will appoint its electors
after it certifies
the general election results.
Each will then prepare a
certificate of ascertainment,
which will contain the
names of the electors
and the number of votes they received.
- I literally did not know that.
So you're saying they get the votes
and then they pick the electors?
- Alok, you got that point.
Here's the second question.
How do you find out who your electors are?
- Bethany, I'm gonna go slowly
to give you a chance to catch up.
- I'm not giving up.
Are you kidding, I'm stalling.
- Alok.
- Hold on.
- I'm gonna give you a time limit
because right now my faith
is in you to answer this.
(Malik and Bethany laugh)
- I'm gonna say the Secretary
of State for your state.
(chime rings)
(crowd cheers)
- Yes, yes, that is correct.
There is not a lot of transparency,
as you both noted,
around who electors are.
And some states have much more
information available online than others.
So contacting your Secretary of State
is an outdated, but generally good way
of getting an accurate list of electors.
Are you ready for question three?
All right, so for question three
are electors required to vote
for the candidate who won the
popular vote in their state?
I think this is a question
a lot of people wanna know the answer to.
- I know the answer to that.
Electors are not required to
vote for the popular candidate.
They're not required to.
- So that was true up
until super recently.
So you might wanna dig super quickly.
- All right, okay, got it, got it.
- Go ahead.
- The Supreme Court
says a state may require
presidential electors to
support its popular vote winner.
Ooh, and that's from July 6th.
- So super, super recent.
So the Supreme Court
just ruled that states
can require electors
to vote for the winner
of the state's popular vote.
So Bethany, you pretty much got that.
I'm gonna give the point to you.
Alok got the others in this
question, the two out of three.
So Alok, you get to pick
one of the blue areas on the map.
- Ooh, I want one that's Prussian blue.
I'm feeling Bob Ross right now.
(Bethany laughs)
The Illinois, Wisconsin,
that's Prussian blue.
- [Malik] Okay, Bethany, it is bad news.
I won't sugar coat it.
You have 137 to Alok's 231.
- Yeah.
- The next challenge is
called Popularity Contested.
Based on the information
available at fairvote.org,
solve the following word problem.
The first person to say
the correct answer wins the challenge.
Here it is.
A new country forms with five states
and an electoral college.
Each state has 10 voters
and one electoral vote.
In the presidential election,
candidate A gets six votes in three states
and zero in the other two,
while candidate B gets
10 votes in two states
and four votes in each
of the remaining three.
Candidate A has a total
of 18 popular votes,
and candidate B has 32.
Who wins the election?
(tense music)
- Let's see, yeah, here we go.
Who wins the election is candidate A.
(chime rings)
(crowd cheers)
- Mm-hmm, so you know what?
- Did I get it?
- Yes, yes.
I'm gonna give you the point.
Candidate A wins the election
because they got three electoral votes
and candidate B only got two.
So Bethany, which part of the
pink region would you like?
- I'll take the magenta region.
- Lovely, and Alok will have
the one right above that.
Okay, so the race has
tightened quite a bit.
Bethany, you have 216, you jumped up.
Alok, you have 264 electoral votes.
So we're on our final
challenge now, very much--
- Oh, snap.
- On our way to picking out
who the internet expert is.
The final challenge is
called Save the Date.
Find the dates of the
following three events
and send calendar invites
to someone you know to save the dates.
The first person to send all
three invites wins the challenge.
Here are the dates you need
to save for the 2020 election:
the Election Day, Meeting of the Electors,
and Counting of Electoral
Votes in Congress.
Ready, go.
(tense music)
So Alok, tell me what
you're doing right now.
- Google searching and opening
three simultaneous tabs.
- All right, I have this one,
but it's not adding to calendar.
That's where I'm gonna get stuck.
- Create new invite.
Oh my God, come on.
- Do you often yell at
your computer, Alok?
- Yell at Macs.
- Oh my God, just call me grandma.
- Who am I sending this to, anyone?
- Anyone, your best friend, your mom.
Let me know when you hit send.
- I literally cannot find
when they meet to count.
- Yeah, I can't find that either.
All right, I got it.
- I got it too, I already sent my invites.
Did you send your invites?
- I got it, but I can't send
the invites, that's all.
- I sent out three invites.
Just want everyone to know.
(chime rings)
(crowd cheers)
- Amazing.
(Bethany laughs)
This means that Alok,
you get to pick part of the green region.
- So I've never been
to the Dakotas before,
so maybe I can pick the lighter green
and summon the opportunity
to go and visit.
- I love that, and that means Bethany
will get the darker green with Colorado.
And with that, the electoral votes are in.
Are you both ready to find out
who was crowned internet expert?
- Yes.
(Bethany claps)
- Bethany, you got 237 electoral votes.
So unfortunately I cannot
crown you internet expert,
but Alok, you topped up at 301,
making you the internet expert.
- [Bethany] Yay!
- And that word is a stretch.
Thank you.
- That was so great.
Eye-opening, and in all
the years of my life
have never understood the process
like I do now, so that was great.
Thank you, Malik.
- Your nursery hip-hop rhyme.
We've gotta get something
right here on the show.
- Oh, right here now?
(Alok beatboxes)
♪ Little Tommy Tucker
went to the cupboard ♪
♪ Looking for some curds
and whey, I don't know ♪
♪ Hey diddle diddle,
the cat and the fiddle ♪
♪ The dish ran away with the spoon ♪
♪ The little dog laughed
to see such a sight ♪
♪ And the dish ran away
with the spoon again ♪
- That was dope.
- And thank you so much for
playing "Internet Expert."
Congratulations, Alok and
Bethany, good job as well.
- Not happy about this, Alok.
♪ Little Tommy Tucker
singing for his supper. ♪
♪ What shall we give him ♪
♪ Brown bread and butter, butter ♪
♪ How should they cut it without a knife ♪
♪ How will he marry without a wife ♪
- And hey, that's not quite it
for this episode of "Internet Expert."
Our next question is for you.
We couldn't forget about you.
The question is how many
electors does your state have?
Leave your answer in the comments
and a link to where you found it.
Thank you so much for watching
this episode of "Internet Expert,"
and we can't wait to see you
right back here next time.
(logo trumpets)
