An election is a means to choose candidates or reveal people’s preferences under a representative democracy or any other form of government, which reflects the voice of the people through voting. Based on a voting system, different countries have different election methods to elect the head of a nation and to form a government, holding new elections to select national legislatures in a fixed interval of time. Indeed, elections preserve democracy, allowing civic rights to people for choosing their representatives. In particular, the United States conducts elections in the federal, state, and local levels to select government officials. The president and the vice-president of the U.S. are elected through an indirect election with the mechanism of the Electoral College to a four-year term of office. The 2020 United States presidential election is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Evidently, candidates for the 2020 U.S. presidential election are: Donald Trump, the 45th and incumbent president of the United States ( 2017-present), the presumptive Republican nominee, and Joe Biden– Former Vice President of the United States ( 2009-2017)– the presumptive Democratic nominee. According to the United States constitution under the Section 1 of article Two, the positions of the president and the vice-president are established. Given the U.S. constitutional provision for the president as the executive head of a nation, the head of a government , the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, it is crucial to know how the executive power of the U.S. is elected –making the public as well as the head of the state accountable to each other. There are following steps for the election process of the U.S. president: Primaries and Caucuses, National Conventions, General Election Campaigning, General Election (Popular Vote), Electoral College, and inauguration.
The 2020 United States presidential election is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020.
Initially, the presidential election of the United States takes place every four years on “the first Tuesday after November 1″ . The election process in the United States is itself a long journey. There are basically two major mechanisms, namely primaries (secret ballots for voting) and caucuses (local gatherings of voters who vote at the end of the meeting for a particular candidate), under which political parties select candidates for a general election. In one side, primary election is conducted by parties, not by the administration, where party members select the best candidate through voting who can better reflect party’s ideas and policies in the general election. This process of selecting a party’s representative for a general election is called the closed primary that allows only registered members (not “unaffiliated” members) of that party prior to election day to vote. Besides this, there are different kinds of primaries, such as semi-closed primary: it generally permits voters (allow also “unaffiliated” voters to participate) to register or change party preference on election day; open primary: under it, registered voters may cast vote in any party primary regardless of their own party affiliation; because of the open nature of this mechanism, a crossing over may occur; and semi-open primary: under it, when a public declaration with the election judges is made , a party-specific ballot is given to the voter to cast. On the other hand, a caucus is an alternative for a primary election to select delegates (are those individuals who represent their state while selecting a political party’s presidential and vice presidential nominees) for the national party’s annual convention in the summer. Specifically, a caucus hold a meeting with people (only registered party members; but anyone can join the party at the caucus.) in a local area before they cast votes in favor of their preferred candidate, reasonably via a show of hands or a head count. Practically, there are 34 U.S. states conducting primary elections, and 16 states holding caucuses to determine political party candidates ( source: Wikipedia) and thus select delegates to the national party convention. Also, the Democratic and Republican parties held primary elections in Washington, D.C. Thus, all 50 states and the District of Columbia held either primaries or caucuses to choose delegates for the national convention. It should be noted that political parties in states choose the methods, primaries and caucuses, of selecting delegates, while some states may reverse the mode of selection of delegates over time too. The procedures for selecting delegates digress between Democrats and Republicans and for each state too. Thus, different methods of primaries and caucuses are performed while electing delegates– who then hold a national convention to select a Presidential nominee.
Also, the Democratic and Republican parties held primary elections in Washington, D.C.
Moreover, as soon as primaries and caucuses ( generally in January-June) are over in each state while choosing delegates, the national convention ( a grand party meeting) starts to select the party’s nominee for a president in the summer (usually in July) before the general election, adopting the platform — a statement about party’s principles and goals– and adopting rules and regulation of party’s activities. In the course of the national convention, the elected delegates ( pledged voters selected at the local or state level) from the primaries and caucuses cast their votes for a party candidate. Practically, a candidate with the most delegates votes is then selected as the party’s nomination of the presidency. Importantly, each party makes the decision of selecting one presidential nominee finally through a national convention. At the same time, the presidential candidate also selects a nominee for the vice-president ( a running-mate). Amazingly, there is also the existence of Superdelegates at a nominating Convention , who are “unpledged voters.” Such Superdelegates are high-ranking members of the Democratic Party, Democratic members of Congress, state governors and former presidents and vice presidents [source: Fang], who can participate at a nominating Convention. Similarly, regarding the Superdelegates of Republicans, the Republican party has established new convention guidelines, urging its Superdelegates to cast their votes in favor of those those candidates who win their state in the primary given the prolonged 2012 nomination of Mitt Romney. At the end of the national convention, both parties have two candidates, the candidates for the president and the vice-president, who are running against each party for the two vital positions.
At the same time, the presidential candidate also selects a nominee for the vice-president ( a running-mate).
Furthermore, campaigns for the U.S. presidential candidates throughout the country are efforts to convince potential voters and to win the support of the latter. Even though the general election campaign in the U.S. begins with the “Labor Day” (the first Monday in September) , the campaign usually starts immediately– after choosing a single nominee from each political party– to a greater extent in practice to advertise and familiarize presidential candidates among public as early as possible. The general election campaigning involves rallies, debates, and advertising through direct mails as well as using social media etc to win spirits of the general public and to attract them effectively in favor of candidates’ own party. Similarly, the general election is the one in which winning candidates from each party’s primary election compete against each other. Since presidents in the U.S. are elected via an indirect election, people of eligible age are actually casting votes for a group of people known as electors. Note that a body of electors forms the Electoral College , which then elects the President and Vice President of the United States. The Electoral College consists of 538 electors representing all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. Additionally, a general election is statutorily held in “the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November”. Given the general election, each elector primarily casts one electoral vote while electing the U.S. president. Practically, a candidate can be elected as the president of the U.S. if s/he receives a majority of the Electoral College votes, that is 270 or more. However, the House of Representatives selects the president and the Senate chooses the vice president if no candidate receives a majority of votes in the Electoral College. Consequently, the president and vice president of the U.S. are indirectly elected through the process of Electoral College.
In addition, the electoral college, a unique American institution, signifies the process of electing the U.S. president. Under this process, all 50 states including the District of Columbia participate actively to elect the President and the Vice President of the U.S. In the U.S., each political party nominates two candidates, one for the president of the U.S and the other for the vice president of the U.S., who strive to win presidential elections receiving a majority of the electoral votes. The two candidates, a president and a vice president in the U.S. presidential election , together are popularly called a ticket. The total number of Senators and Representatives in Congress in a particular state gives the number of electors in each state. For instance, Texas, which has two senators and 36 Congressional representatives, is allotted 38 electoral votes. The Electoral College consists of a total of 538 electors. Note that the candidate with an absolute majority of at least 270 electoral votes wins the election. Electors are selected differently based on laws of different states. In particular, there are 435 Representatives (435 constitutes U.S. House apportionment based on population in the 50 states) and 100 Senators ( two U.S. senators from each of the 50 states) along with three electors from the District of Columbia (approved in the Twenty-third Amendment to the Constitution in 1961), resulting in 538 total electors in the Electoral College. It is important to note this fact that the number of members of the House of Representatives in each state is directly proportional to the number of state electors, and that number is usually refreshed by the U.S. census (required by the U.S. Constitution) once the population census is conducted every 10 years . Interestingly, due to the Electoral College’s winner-takes-all provision, the candidate with the plurality of votes in a state wins all of the electors from that particular state. However, this provision does not apply to two states, Nebraska and Maine, where a number of electoral votes can be divided based on congressional district. For example, Biden may win one district in Maine, while Trump can win the other. As a result, the president of the U.S. is elected in two steps. First, the candidate with plurality of votes from each state wins the electoral votes, and thus receives that number of voters (electors) in the Electoral College (usually held in November). Second, the candidate becomes the president of the U.S. when s/he receives a majority of electoral votes from each of the 50 states (generally held in December). Finally, the President-elect and Vice President-elect swear in and take office on January 20th (or January 21 if January 20 falls on a Sunday) at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
Interestingly, due to the Electoral College’s winner-takes-all provision, the candidate with the plurality of votes in a state wins all of the electors from that particular state.
Importantly, constitutionally, the qualifications for the U.S. presidency and vice-presidency are: potential candidates must be natural born citizens, residents for at least 14 years, and 35 years of age or older. It is worthwhile to note that such constitutional provisions do not preclude any women or minor candidates to run for a candidate of presidency and vice-presidency in the U.S. The U.S. president can at most serve two four-year terms after ratifying the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1951. However, the 32nd U.S. president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, is the only President ever in the U.S. political history, serving more than two terms (elected as the U.S. President four times) from 1933 until his death in 1945. Interestingly, the President, Grover Cleveland, is the one who serves two nonconsecutive terms, and is consequently distinguished as both the 22nd and the 24th U.S. President. In this way, the U.S. Presidential system has a long-established, unique and diversified history pragmatically.
However, the U.S. system for electing presidents is sometimes harshly criticized as controversial , undemocratic, and unpopular one. First, in the U.S. presidential election, presidents are elected through an indirect election. That is, voters do not simply and directly elect presidents in the U.S. via popular votes. For instance, Andrew Jackson (1824), Samuel Tilden (1876), Grover Cleveland (1888), Al Gore (2000) and Hillary Clinton (2016) win more popular votes than their rivals, but lose the electoral college (election). Second, the idea of the Electoral College signifies the Founders’ fear of an imprudent electorate so that the choice of the U.S. president should be backed up by wise and calm electors to maintain the historical unification of the U.S. Third, the winner-takes-all system disperses the results in the sense that it under-represents the minority voting– canceling the votes of all losing candidates in each state under the winner-takes-all provision. Despite having all these drawbacks of the Electoral College system, it creates the situation of clear presidential majorities in favor of one of the two key political parties in the U.S., acts as the fundamental to American federalism, protects the two-party system, strengthens the political influence of small states. Sadly speaking, the ongoing pandemic (COVID-19) has already adversely affected the whole world including the U.S. economy and its presidential election related activities. Hopefully, the medication against the COVID-19 will come soon to revive usual lives of people back to normalcy. Consequently, the Electoral College system plays a crucial role for the unity of the United States, and hence its existence is still feasible in the U.S presidential election in spite of its severe criticism.
Consequently, the Electoral College system plays a crucial role for the unity of the United States
After all, the Electoral College is a popular system of indirect election for electing the President of the United States. To this method, voters choose a panel of individuals (electors) to represent their votes in the Electoral College and thus to elect a single president. The last but not least point is that the Electoral College and indirect voting system have shaped the American presidential election system since the beginning of the U.S. political history. Finally, like the way we make a garland with a series of individual flower, we make a watch with the proper placement of different needles on it, the Electoral College system along with an indirect election provision is also the heart of the U.S. political system to keep the U.S. politically stable , practically sustain the unified U.S., and primarily carry on the foundations of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the U.S. Most importantly, there is a great scope of this kind of presidential election system in countries, like Nepal, to establish a prolonged political stability.
Narendra Raj Tiwari (Email: [email protected])
PhD student (Economics) at Texas Tech University
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