Darrell Castle (born October 11, 1948) is an American politician, activist and lawyer from Memphis, Tennessee, and the 2008 vice-presidential candidate of the Constitution Party. He was the party's presidential nominee for the 2016 presidential election.
United States Electoral College
The United States Electoral College is a name used to describe the official 538 Presidential electors who come together every four years during the presidential election to give their official votes for President and Vice President of the United States.
The number of electors each state has is determined by the number of representatives a state has, plus its two senators. No state can have fewer than three electors. There are 435 representatives in total and 100 senators. The 23rd Amendment to the Constitution awarded Washington, D.C. three electors. Combined, there is a total of 538 electors.
Electors usually vote for the winner of the popular vote in their state. In some states, they vote depending on the popular vote in each congressional district. The Constitution leaves states to decide how electors will vote. Faithless electors are electors that vote against the popular vote, although there is a fine for this in some states.
The Electoral College was created as the Founding Fathers were afraid the popular vote would be easily swayed. Because congressional representatives is determined by population, electors are assigned based on representatives. More populous states have more electors. Because most states have a winner-take-all system, where the winner of the popular vote in a state gains all of the electors, several presidents have lost the popular vote and won the electoral vote. A candidate needs to win a majority of electors, or 270, to become the president-elect.
The Electoral College plays a very important role in today's elections. It is the subject of controversy as some people approve of the system, but for various reasons, some don't. The people who approve of the system often argue and say that it give smaller states more power, and that this a good thing, because if it were done by population, someone could win a majority of the votes in certain states but not win the majority of states. The Electoral College favors those who win more states, big and small. Even though it can be won with 11 states, often certain states stay Democratic or Republican ensuring it likely won't happen this way. Those are who against it bring up the latter argument that it can be won with 11 states and that often the candidate who wins does not win the popular vote. Third parties can change the outcome of an election, and it is often debated whether they play a role.
Gard
Gard is a French department in southern France in the Occitanie region and named after the Gardon river. Its prefecture is Nîmes.
Gard is one of the 83 French departments made during the French revolution, on 4 March 1790. It was divided in 8 districts: Alais, Beaucaire, Nîmes, Pont-Saint-Esprit, Saint-Hippolyte, Sommières, Uzès and Le Vigan. The capital was Nîmes alternating with Alais and Uzès. In 1794, Nîmes became the only capital.
With the creation of the "arrondissements", the 8 districts became four "arrondissements": Nîmes, Alais, Uzès and Le Vigan. In 1926, the "arrondissement" of Uzès was eliminated.
Gard is part of the Occitanie region, in southern France, with an area of .
The department borders with 6 other departments in 3 regions:
The department has a long coast along the Mediterranean Sea.
There are 4 natural regions in Gard:
The highest point in the department is "Mont Aigoual", () that is high it is in the "Cévennes" mountains, on the border with the Lozère department.
The main river of Gard is the Gardon (or "Gard"), a right tributary of the Rhone. The Rhone flows through the eastern border of the department.
The climate of the Gard department, in the city of Nîmes, is subtropical with dry-summer, Csa (Mediterranean Climate) in the Köppen climate classification.
The average temperature for the year in Nîmes, at an altitude of , is . The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of .
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Nîmes is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is July with an average of .
Gard is part of the region of Occitanie. The department is managed by the "Departamental Council of the Gard" in Nîmes.
There are 3 "arrondissements" (districts), 23 "cantons" and 353 "communes" (municipalities) in Gard.
The following is a list of the 23 cantons of the Gard department (with their INSEE codes), in France, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:
The inhabitants of Gard are known, in French, as "Gardois" (women: "Gardoises").
Gard has a population, in 2014, of 736,029, for a population density of inhabitants/km. The "arrondissement" of Nîmes, with 547,598 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Alès and Le Vigan, have respectively 151,823 and 36,608 inhabitants.
The city with more people living in it is the capital, Nîmes (151,075). The subprefectures of Alès and Le Vigan have, respectively, 39,993 and 3,933 inhabitants.
Evolution of the population in Aude
The 10 most important cities in the department are:
Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne ("Upper Garonne"; ) is a department in the southwest of France named after the Garonne river. Its main city and prefecture of the department is Toulouse.
Haute-Garonne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Languedoc.
The department was originally larger than now because it included the district of Castelsarrasin which was transferred to the department of Tarn-et-Garonne when it was created in 1808.
Haute-Garonne has an area of . It is part of the Occitanie region. The department is not a historical region of France; this is an administrative division made from various pieces of Languedoc and Gascogne.
The department is surrounded by the departments:
and by Spain (provinces of Lleida and Huesca) to the south.
The department is crossed by the upper course of the Garonne river (hence the name) for nearly . The borders of the department follow the river. The Garonne enters France from Spain at the town of Fos, goes through Toulouse and leaves the department. Two big canals cross the department from east to west: the Canal du Midi and the Canal de Garonne.
There are three distinct geographical areas in the department:
The climate of the department is an oceanic climate with template summers, Cfb in the Köppen climate classification.
The department is managed by the "Departamental Council of the Haute-Garonne" in Toulouse. The Haute-Garonne is part of the region of Occitanie.
There are 3 "arrondissements" (districts), 27 "cantons" and 589 "communes" (municipalities) in the Haute-Garonne.
The following is a list of the 27 cantons of the Haute-Garonne department (with their INSEE codes), in France, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:
The inhabitants of Haute-Garonne are known, in French, as "Haut-Garonnais" (women: "Haut-Garonnaises").
Haute-Garonne has a population, in 2014, of 1,317,668, for a population density of inhabitants/km. The "arrondissement" of Toulouse, with 1,024,517 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Muret and Saint-Gaudens, have respectively 215,606 and 77,545 inhabitants.
Evolution of the population in Haute-Garonne
The 10 cities with more people living in them in 2014 in the department are:
Gers
Gers (Gascon: "Gers") is a department in the Occitanie region in the southwest of France named after the Gers river.