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DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.
This is Doug Johnson. On our show this week:
A listener asks how the Electoral College works ...
A look at some body art ...
And a musical history of the Apollo Theater.
Body Art
Body art is the use of the humanbody as a form of self-expression. Tattooing and piercing are bothforms of body art. And, as Faith Lapidus tells us, both have becomemore socially acceptable in the United States.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Tattooing is the art of injecting colors into theskin to create designs. Piercing is putting holes in the body forwearing jewelry.
Ancient societies used body art to represent many differentthings, including social position and religious beliefs. In theUnited States, tattoos were considered mostly for military men orlaborers, or young people who disobeyed their parents.
But in recent years, all kinds of people have gotten tattoos --men, women, teachers, entertainers. Some tattoos are small andhidden under clothes. But it is not so unusual these days to seeyoung men with colorful designs that cover their arms. Some youngwomen have large tattoos across their lower back.
Piercing used to be just for ears. But now other parts includelips, noses, eyebrows and navels.
Piercing and tattooing can involve serious risks, in addition topain and bleeding. There is the risk of infection and the spread ofdisease if the artist is not careful about cleanliness.
Of course, people may later regret their decision to get apermanent tattoo. Removal is costly and painful. So some people geta temporary one, like mehndi. Mehndi is a traditional body art donewith henna, which comes from a plant. It washes off in a few weeks.
Electoral College
DOUG JOHNSON: Our VOA listener question this week comes fromSouth Africa. Clifford Riffel in Atlantis writes: "I keep hearingabout an Electoral College. How does it work?" It works this way:
When Americans vote for president and vice president nextTuesday, their votes will not go to the candidates. Instead,Americans vote for electors to represent them in what is known asthe Electoral College.
The founders of the nation thought appointed representativesshould make the choice. They saw this as a compromise between havingCongress elect a president and having the people do it directly.They borrowed an idea from the ancient Holy Roman Empire. Back then,a number of princes of German states acted as electors of the king.
The term "college" comes from Latin. It can mean any group ofpeople who act together for a common purpose. The Constitution talksabout "electors," but never uses the term "electoral college." YetAmericans were calling it that by the early eighteen hundreds.
Different states have different laws on the appointment ofelectors. But political parties often nominate people to recognizetheir service to their party. In some states, the names of theelectors appear on the ballot, below the names of the candidates.
The number of electors in each state equals the number orrepresentatives and senators that the state has in Congress. Thisdepends on population. So, states with more people have moreelectoral votes. California has the most – fifty-five.
In all, there are five hundred thirty-eight votes in theElectoral College. To become president, a candidate must win morethan half, or at least two hundred seventy. If there is a tie, theelection would be decided in the House of Representatives.
In general, the candidate with the most popular votes in a statewins all the electoral votes in that state. Two of the fifty states,Maine and Nebraska, no longer have a winner-takes-all system. And onTuesday, voters in Colorado will consider a ballot measure thatproposes a similar change.
Their nine electoral votes would be divided by the share of thepopular vote that each candidate receives. The proposal calls forthe change to take effect immediately.
No federal law requires electors to vote for the candidate whowon the most votes in their state. Some states, however, do havesuch laws.
Usually, the candidate who wins in the popular vote nationwidealso wins in the Electoral College, but not always. In two thousand,for example, Al Gore received half a million more votes than GeorgeW. Bush. But Mister Bush won the electoral vote when the SupremeCourt ruled, five to four, to halt a recount of the ballots inFlorida. The state was decided by five hundred thirty-seven votes.
Critics of the Electoral College system call it undemocratic,difficult to understand and dangerous to the political system.Supporters say it helps to guarantee the rights of states with smallpopulations. They say it also requires candidates to reach out tomany states, not just those with large populations.
There have been hundreds of proposals in Congress to end orreform the Electoral College. But amending the Constitution is adifficult process.
In any case, this year the election of the president and vicepresident will not take place, officially, until Decemberthirteenth. That is the day for electors in each state and theDistrict of Columbia to meet to choose America's leaders for thenext four years.