Who Elects the President of USA?

 

 

If you're an American citizen, 18 years of age or older, you probably think you have the right to vote for presidential candidates in the national election. You're wrong! In our country, when citizens punch their ballots for President, they actually vote for a slate of electors. Electors then cast the votes that decide who becomes President of the United States. Does this mean that an individual citizen’s vote doesn’t count? Not at all — when citizens exercise their right to vote, they do their part in electing the candidate of their choice. They determine the electoral vote for their state.

 

Voters do not, technically, participate in a direct election of the president. They choose "electors" pledged to support a particular candidate - these are the people who actually elect the president. (There are 538 of them, and big states have more of them than small states.)

 

Most states hold state-wide votes, called primaries, to determine their preferred candidates from the two main parties. Others use a slightly different procedure involving public meetings, called caucuses.

 

In both cases the upshot is that the state will send a certain number of delegates committed to supporting a particular candidate, to the party convention in August or September 2008. Bigger states have more delegates. The candidate with the most delegates wins the nomination. Usually this becomes clear early on in the primary season.

 

A party must provide nominated people to stand for election. They obviously need to have (or are assumed to have) public charisma and are experienced in going public. A shy candidate would be a potential disaster in what is becoming an increasingly media dominated event - especially with regards to the use of television.

 

Of those nominated, only one is selected by the party delegates at the national conventions. This person then goes onto represent that party in the national presidential election. The running mate for the presidential candidate is also announced at the national convention. After the national conventions, the two parties presidential hopefuls can concentrate on campaigning for the ultimate prize in American politics. A general/presidential election is held in November of election year. 

 

The general election does not elect the president. It states in numeric terms how many people voted for each candidate but only that. The election of a president is determined by the Electoral College though their votes usually follow the popularity of the voters.

 

Each state has a number of delegates attached to it who are members of the state’s Electoral College. It is these people who the voters in that state are in reality voting for as most of these delegates are voted for at the same time as the presidential election. The number of delegates a state gets is dependent on its population and its representation in the House of Representatives. Each state has 2 Senators but the number of Congressmen it has is dependent on its population. Therefore, California has 52 Electoral College delegates, New York 33 delegates, North Dakota 3 delegates and Maine 4 delegates. The Presidential Electors of each state, and Washington, D.C., meet to cast their electoral votes 41 days following Election Day. The electors ballot first for President, then for Vice President.

 

The presidential election is done on a winner-take-all basis in a state. Therefore if a candidate has most voters voting for him in California he will get all 52 Electoral votes. This is true even if the number of people who voted against him is greater than the number he received.

 

Approximately one month following the casting of the electoral votes, the newly seated U.S. Congress meets in joint session to declare the winner of the election. If a candidate for President receives the vote of 270 or more Presidential Electors, the presiding officer (usually the sitting Vice President) declares that candidate to be the President-elect. Similarly, a candidate for Vice President receiving 270 or more electoral votes is declared to be the Vice President-elect.

 

Once a candidate had got a simple majority of Electoral College support nation wide he is declared the victor. In the highly unlikely event that no candidate gains an overall majority, the decision goes to the House of Representatives where each state votes as a block and each state block has one vote. Whoever wins here is declared the president.

 

The nature of the process and its complication have been critiqued, with its detractors proposing several alternative methods of electing the president. This issue was revisited following the Presidential Election of 2000 when Democratic candidate Al Gore received the plurality of the national vote, but failed to win the majority of the Electoral College. Advocates of the current system have similarly set forth arguments for its advantages.

 

INSTRUCTIONS TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

 

You are supposed to research about US Presidential Election. After reading about this topic on internet, answer the following questions below in English. Remember your answers will not be considered, if they are written in another language, no matter they are correct.

 

a)     What is the difference between primaries, caucuses and conventions in the US Presidential Election?

 

b)     What is the Electoral College?

 

c)      Describe with your own words what Recall Elections are.