The electoral system in the United States are complicated and confusing, and at times incomprehensible even to Americans, not that Russian-speaking immigrants. Our task today is to figure out how to elect a President of the United States and how to count votes.
Let’s start with major requirements for candidates running for the presidency.
shutterstock
Basic requirements
According to the U.S. Constitution, the President can be a citizen age 35 years, born and lived on its territory for at least the last 14 years. The President is elected every 4 years and may be re-elected for a second term.
Have you ever wondered why the presidential elections in America are always held on Tuesdayfollowing the first Monday in November? The tradition of Tuesday elections followed with 1845. If you dig into the depths of history, the choice will become quite clear. Saturday was considered a work day, Sunday was given to God by attending Church and Wednesday was market day. And so it became a day of voting Tuesday.
The United States presidential election is held on 3 levels:
- Federal (national),
- at the state level
- and in the field.
Along with a President elected by over 18 thousand senior officials, from Vice-President to the sheriffs of rural communities.
The country has a two-stage election system. Historically, since the founding of the USA as an independent state in 1789 and to this day the elections of the President and Vice President are indirect, multistage nature and take place in several stages.
The first stage
From February 1 to June 31, are the primary candidates for US President — the primaries (organized and paid for by the government, last all day) and Caucus meetings (Caucus meetings last several hours and are paid from the budget of the parties), during which the Americans define the candidates — Republican and Democrat, who will fight for the presidency.
The second stage
The holding of national conventions. The so-called national conventions of Democrats and Republicans, during which the leadership of the parties approves 2 candidates of the competition (one from each) for the main race.
shutterstock
The third main — stage
U.S. citizens vote for President and the electoral College — representatives of your state that will vote for one of the candidates for President.
Such a confusing system rooted in the history of independent America, when the question about centralized management of the young government.
As opponents of monarchical system of government, the founders of the new state skeptical to the system of direct democracy, because the population density in the United States was heterogeneous and each with its own legal system. To prevent mob rule in the Union of States-States, it was decided:
- First, the population defines electors of the most respected and worthy people of your state who make up the electoral College.
- Then these electors (each state has the number of individuals representing the opinion of the people) to Express the will of their countrymen in the presidential election and vote for the candidate whom the majority of votes have selected the state.
The fourth stage
On the scene comes the electoral College. Each state its number of electoral votes proportional to the number of voters. The larger the state population, the more electoral votes: for example, in California — 55, Florida — 29. The total number of the electoral College is 538 people. To win elections the presidential candidate is enough to gain the 270 votes.
So, residents of the state are undecided, they voted for any candidate and determine the list of electors of his party. How to distribute their votes on? All States except Maine and Nebraska, follow the principle «the winner takes it all». This means that a couple of «President + Vice-President», won the majority of votes in a particular state, the result gets all the electoral votes of electors from that state. That is, if the people of the state voted for Republicans, to elect a President, electors would be Republicans and Democrats will be irrelevant and Vice versa.
How worthy are elected by the electors in a particular state
Most electors are elected at party conferences in the state. This is a practice of the 36 States. In 10 States, the electors determine the committees of the party organizations of the state, take your list from each party.
Who can apply for the position of elector:
- well-known officials of the state;
- party activists;
- well-known personalities that have relations with any of the candidates.
Who is not entitled to be an elector:
- persons who are on service in bodies of Executive power;
- the persons holding positions related to the distribution of property;
- the persons who participated in rebellion or insurrection against the country.
The electoral College must elect a new President independently and objectively.
The results of the 2016 election the electoral votes were distributed as follows:
Republican Donald trump has received 290 electoral votes; Democrat Hillary Clinton — 228 electoral votes.
In this , Clinton voted for a larger number of voters in the country (60 839 922), than for trump (60 858 265). (At 23.34 on 12.11.2016 year.) However, electoral votes won by Republican trump, his victory giving the opportunity for the Republican party to take most seats in Parliament (Congress) of the United States.
Final election results shall be approved by both houses of Congress. After that the inauguration of the new President of the United States.
Our entire story about the complicated electoral system of the USA can be represented in a visual step-by-step instructions.
