Each state that has chosen a democratic path has its own national characteristics of elections to government bodies, reflecting the national character, history and traditions of the country. The American electoral system has no equal in this indicator in the world. It is impossible for an unaccustomed person to figure out how the president is elected in the United States the first time. Multi-stage voting, primaries, the Electoral College, swing states… And the whole battle takes place in the format of a real reality show, capturing the attention of television viewers.
Where to start to become the President of the United States?
According to the constitution, any citizen over the age of 35 who was born in the country and has lived here for at least 14 years can become the President of the United States.
You can be nominated from any party, or you can go to the polls on your own, asindependent candidate.
But the practice of the last centuries shows that the real battle is between the two parties - the Republican and the Democratic. It is the representative of one of these two monsters that determines the fate of the country in the next four years.
So that long-term power does not turn a person's head, activity as the leader of the country is limited to two terms. According to the founding fathers of the United States, the presence of one person in power for more than 8 years can lead to a dictatorship and curtailment of all freedoms.
The US presidential election is a multi-stage procedure. On average, it lasts one and a half years. Moreover, an active discussion of possible contenders begins a year before the start of the race, so when asked how often the president is elected in the United States, we can say that this is a continuous process. There are several stages in the procedure: the nomination of candidates, primaries and caucuses (that is, primary elections), the confirmation of a representative from the party at the national convention, and the elections themselves.
Primaries
So, in any case, either a Democrat or a Republican becomes the President. Who decides which of the party members to go to the polls? Given the great degree of responsibility, there is a system of primaries - a preliminary vote to determine the candidate from the Republicans and Democrats. This is a very important point to understand how the US electoral system works.
Each state has its own procedure for conducting primary elections, voting methods. But the essence remainsone - delegates are elected who at the final congress will determine who will represent the party in the presidential elections in the United States.
Actually, delegates are not required to vote for the exact candidate voted for in the primary.
There may be situations where there may be defectors from one camp to another. But this is an extremely rare case, and such an incident occurs only when no candidate has managed to secure a majority of the delegates.
There is such a curious day as "Super Tuesday". On the first Tuesday of February, primary elections are held in many states at once.
Primaries are a very exciting spectacle, they take place from February to June of the year in which elections are held. Americans follow their intermediate results, just like football fans in Europe follow the standings of the national championship.
When does the most important thing begin?
The timing of the US presidential election has remained unchanged for the third century. As it should be in a decent Anglo-Saxon country, here they treat laws and traditions with great respect and do not change anything without urgent need. The first Tuesday in November is the day when the US presidential elections in 2020, 2024 and so on indefinitely every four years will be held. This was established in 1845 and continues to this day.
Why Tuesday? It's all about the farmers. The United States in the 19th century was an agricultural country. Majority of votersrepresented the agricultural regions of the country. The road to the polling station and back took from one to two days. And on Sunday, I had to go to church. So they chose the most convenient day of the week to visit the temple and choose the president.
Electors
Citizens of European countries and Russia are accustomed to the sacred formula: the principle of direct, equal and secret voting. The US electoral system is a bit different. The presidential elections here do not include the principle of direct voting. Citizens choose delegates - electors, who, in turn, choose the leader of the country.
Complete with the first person of the state, US citizens also receive a vice president, who goes with him in the same harness. They are the only persons in the country who are elected at the federal level, that is, they represent the interests of the whole country, and not any particular state.
Composition of the board
It is impossible to understand how the president is elected in the United States without understanding the method of determining the Electoral College. The voter comes to the polling station and, voting for his candidate, thereby votes for his team of representatives. Then it is these delegates who, in a formal vote, secure the election of the president.
The electoral team is usually made up of the most authoritative representatives of each state. It can be congressmen, senators or just respected people.
Each state shall nominate a number of electors in proportion to the number of people eligible to vote and living inGerman There is such a formula - as many electors as there are elected deputies from the state to Congress, plus 2 people.
For example, the largest number of delegates in 2016 could be presented by California - 55 people. The smallest - sparsely populated states, such as Utah, Alaska and some others - 3 people each. In total, there are 538 people in the board. 270 electoral votes are required to win.
A look into the history of government
It's hard for a citizen of a unitary, centralized state to understand why the Americans have made their election scheme so complicated. The thing is that initially the United States was not a single country with a rigid vertical of power.
The very name of the United States (literally - "United States") indicates that it was a union of equal states. They left only the most complex issues to the federal government in Washington - the army, currency regulation, foreign policy. All other internal affairs were handled exclusively by local authorities.
Until now, for example, there is no single body that manages the police forces. The police of each state reports directly to the regional authorities and is independent of the capital.
Meaning of the scheme with electors
Each state values its own rights. Therefore, in such an important issue, a system was developed in which the president was elected precisely by representatives from each subject of the federation, and not by a simple arithmetic majority. Otherwise, such large states,like California or New York, they could simply impose their will on all other states at the expense of a larger population. And so, only in case of support throughout the country, the candidate will be able to become a national leader.
That is, the essence of this scheme is to support the principle of federalism of the United States.
Electoral disputes
With such a system, some paradoxes are possible. A challenger who receives more popular votes than his opponent can safely lose to him due to fewer electors.
The reason is as follows. It is already clear, in general, how the president is elected in the United States. The scheme is that he is appointed by an electoral college assembled from all states.
The highlight of the system is that the principle is: all or nothing. It doesn't matter if the candidate won, say in California, by a 99% to 1% margin, or won by a single vote. In any case, he gets the entire quota of electors assigned to this state (in this case, 55 people).
That is, the overwhelming majority of voters in the largest regions (California, New York) can vote for the Democratic candidate and thereby provide him with an arithmetic majority of votes throughout the country. But if there is no support in other states, there is no victory. Thus, the principle of equivalence of one vote is violated to some extent. A voter somewhere in Utah or Alaska "weighs" more than in California or New York.
Dispute about necessityreforms have been underway for a long time, but given the traditional conservatism of Americans in the field of laws, changes will take a long time.
The reason Trump won the 2016 election
That's what happened in the recent US elections. More people voted for Clinton. But the majority was ensured by the overwhelming majority of Democrats in those states where they traditionally get all the electors. Trump's victory was that he was able to win in those states where voters have not yet clearly defined their preferences.
There are several swing states where there is no clear preference for Democrats or Republicans. Three or four of them are important. In turn, the most key of them is Florida, which has delegated 27 electors. Almost always the winner in Florida becomes the president of the country. In other words, the whole point of the election campaign is to secure the majority in three or four states out of 50!
This is what Donald Trump did. He shrugged off the fight in hopeless California and New York and concentrated all his power exactly where it was required.
Historical Incidents
Today it is clear how the president is elected in the United States. But at the dawn of statehood, difficult questions also arose.
When the electoral votes were equal, the president was elected by the House of Representatives. This is how Jefferson was elected in 1800 and Adams in 1824. This rule still exists, but in practiceit does not come to this, since the struggle is only between two real contenders. Although, given the even number of electors, this option is theoretically possible.
Technical details, timing
So, the national elections have taken place, the electoral college has been determined. The delegates, without leaving their states, convene in December, on a day determined by the constitution. There is a formal voting procedure. A protocol is drawn up and sent to Congress, where a special commission fixes the results of the vote.
After confirmation by Congress and the Senate, in early 2017, Donald Trump will formally assume the presidency. According to the constitution, the inauguration ceremony should take place on January 20.
It is quite difficult to figure out how the president is elected in the United States. To do this, it is necessary to turn to the history of the country, to understand its traditions, the mentality of people. The US presidential election is an exciting and interesting show, regardless of one's political preferences.
