United States presidential election process
The United States presidential election process occurs every four years and is characterized by its complexity and dramatic developments. It primarily involves two major political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, which conduct early elections known as primaries or caucuses to select their candidates for the national election. The journey to candidacy begins years in advance, with potential candidates engaging in discussions, polling, and fundraising to prepare for their campaigns. Once declared, candidates compete in primaries to secure their party’s nomination, culminating in a National Convention where the nominated candidate is officially presented.
After the nomination, candidates shift their focus to the general election campaign, strategically targeting swing states where voter preferences are uncertain. During the actual voting process, citizens do not vote directly for presidential candidates but for a slate of electors pledged to those candidates. This electoral college system can lead to situations where a candidate wins the presidency without winning the popular vote, highlighting the influence of state elector counts. While some view the electoral college as a means to balance representation among states, its implications on the democratic process continue to be a subject of debate.
United States presidential election process
The United States Presidential Election process takes place every four years. It is a long and complicated process that is often full of dramatic twists and turns. The US government has three branches: the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch. The legislative branch makes the laws, the executive branch ensures that those laws are effectively carried out and enforced, and the judicial branch interprets those laws. The three branches have checks built into their powers designed to maintain balance between the three. However, only the executive branch is led by a single person, the president of the United States. He (or she) also leads his cabinet and all other appointed positions beneath it.
Overview
The presidential election process begins with America's political parties. America is primarily a two-party system consisting of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. While other parties exist, they have very little power and influence when compared to the two major parties. Each party holds early elections within itself, called either primaries or caucuses, to decide what member will represent it in the national elections. While smaller parties play a role in presidential elections, none has ever won. Instead, these parties tend to draw votes away from a popular candidate, giving another popular candidate an additional edge.
While primaries and caucuses are important, the processes of becoming president of the United States starts several years before the candidate's chosen party nominates him or her for the national ballot. Once candidates decide to run, they must first discuss it with their party, initiate polls in various parts of the country to assess their chance of winning, plan their official political positions on important issues of the time, and most importantly, raise a great deal of money. Winning elections is expensive. Most of the money for a presidential campaign usually comes from political action committees (PACs), donations, and the political parties themselves—billions of dollars have been spent throughout history on presidential elections. The 2012 election between Barak Obama and Mitt Romney alone cost billions of dollars.
Candidates must follow these steps before formally declaring that they are running for president. Once a candidate makes this declaration, the candidate has to begin earnestly campaigning not for the presidency, but for a chance to be his or her party's candidate for presidency.
A candidate knows exactly where he or she stands when running in primary elections—polling takes place throughout primary elections. The candidate's staff keeps track of exactly where they need to campaign more heavily.
After all this, primaries and caucuses are held. These are smaller, statewide elections normally held within a party to decide who the people in a particular area think the party's candidate should be. The candidate who has won the highest percentage of primaries and caucuses is usually given the party's nomination at its National Convention. Then the candidate may begin campaigning for the presidency itself.
At one time, the elections for a party's presidential candidate were held at its National Convention. In modern times, this has become a formality. The elections are still held but usually most candidates have dropped out of the race. Out of any left, the winner is almost always known long before the convention. The purpose of the convention today is to discuss the party's policies and platforms. Instead of a way to choose the party's candidate for president, the convention has become a tool to display and promote the winning candidate.
After the National Convention, time management is critical. Campaigning, speech-making, debates, and various other public events need to be split between important states. The people in some states, due to culture, tradition, or any number of other circumstances, already consistently vote for either the Democratic or Republican candidate. For example, most people in Texas vote Republican while most people in California vote Democrat. Little campaigning is done in these states because their people's votes are usually already decided. The candidate's time and money is better spent in swing states, also known as battleground states, such as Ohio and Florida. Winning a large percentage of these states will give the candidate the edge the candidate needs to win.
When voters eventually cast their vote at the polls, they are not actually voting for the president. Instead, local parties have each picked a set number of people called electors. Electors pledge to vote for the candidate of the party that chose them. Electors almost always vote the way they've pledged to, so the people are still effectively voting for president. However, different states have different numbers of electors, and the number is not always proportional to size or population. This makes certain states more important to win than others. This is why a candidate can lose the popular vote, meaning fewer people voted for the candidate than his or her opponent, yet win the electoral vote and, thus, the presidency.
Some people strongly support the electoral-college voting system. It gives small and less-populated states more weight than they would have had if the number of actual votes were counted.
Bibliography
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