Each state that has chosen the 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 on this indicator has no equal in the world. It’s impossible for an unaccustomed person to figure out how to elect a president in the United States the first time. Multistage voting procedure, primaries, electoral college, vacillating states … And this whole battle takes place in the format of a real reality show, capturing the attention of viewers.
Where to start to become the president of the USA?
Under the constitution, anyone over the age of 35 who is 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 yourself, as an independent candidate.
But the practice of recent centuries shows that a real battle is being waged between 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 power does not turn a person’s head on, activity as the country's leader is limited to two terms. According to the founding fathers of the United States, a single person in power for more than 8 years can lead to dictatorship and the curtailment of all freedoms.
The US presidential election is a multi-stage procedure. On average, it lasts a year and a half. Moreover, an active discussion of possible applicants begins a year before the start of the race, so when asked how often they choose the president in the USA, we can say that this is an ongoing process. Several stages can be distinguished in the procedure: nomination of candidates, primaries and caucus (that is, primary elections), approval of a representative from the party at the national congress, and the elections themselves.
Primaries
So, in any case, either a democrat or a republican becomes president. Who decides which party member to go to the polls? Given the great degree of responsibility, there is a system of primaries - preliminary voting to determine a candidate from Republicans and Democrats. This is a very important point to understand how the US electoral system works.
Each state has its own primary election procedure, voting methods. But the essence remains the same - delegates are elected who will determine at the final congress who will represent the party in the US presidential election.
In fact, delegates are not required to vote precisely for the candidate for whom the voters voted in the primary election.
There may be situations when there may be defectors from one camp to another. But this is an extremely rare case, and such an incident arises only when not a single candidate has managed to secure the 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 fascinating sight, they are held from February to June of the year in which the elections are held. The Americans follow their interim results, just like football fans in Europe for the national championship standings.
When does the most important thing begin?
The terms of the US presidential election for the third century remain unchanged. As it should be in a decent Anglo-Saxon country, here they pay great respect to laws, traditions and, without urgent need, change nothing. The first Tuesday of November is the day that the US presidential election takes place in 2020, 2024, and so on ad infinitum every four years. It was established in 1845 and continues to this day.
Why tuesday? It's all about farmers. The United States in the XIX century was an agricultural country. Most voters represented the country's agricultural regions. The journey to and from the polling station took one to two days. And on Sunday it was necessary to go to church. So we 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 ballot. The US electoral system is a little different. Presidential elections here do not include the principle of direct voting. Citizens elect delegates - electors, who, in turn, choose the country's leader.
Together with the first person in the state, US citizens also receive a vice president who comes with him in the same team. They are the only people in the country who are elected precisely at the federal level, that is, they represent the interests of the whole country, and not of any particular state.
Board composition
It is impossible to understand how the president is elected in the United States without understanding the method of determining the electoral college. A voter comes to the polling station and, voting for his candidate, thereby casting votes for his team of representatives. Then, these delegates, with a formal vote, consolidate the election of the president.
As a rule, the most authoritative representatives of each state are appointed to the electoral team. It can be congressmen, senators or simply respected people.
Each state nominates such a number of electors that is proportional to the number of people with voting rights and living in it. This formula applies - as many electors as there are elected state deputies to Congress plus 2 people.
For example, California could represent the largest number of delegates in 2016 - 55 people. The smallest - sparsely populated states, such as Utah, Alaska and some others - 3 people each. In total, the college consists of 538 people. To win, the votes of 270 electors are needed.
A look into the history of government
It is difficult for a citizen of unitary, centralized states to understand why the Americans have so complicated their election scheme. The thing is that initially the United States was not a single country with a rigid vertical of power.
The name United States (literally - “United States”) suggests that it was a union of equal states. Only the most difficult questions they submitted to the federal authority in Washington - the army, foreign exchange regulation, and foreign policy. All other internal affairs were dealt exclusively with local authorities.
Until now, for example, there is no single authority governing police forces. The police in each state report directly to the regional authorities and are independent of the capital.
The meaning of the electoral scheme
Each state values its rights. Therefore, on 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. Indeed, otherwise such large states as California or New York could simply impose their will on all other states at the expense of a larger population. And so, it is only in the case of support throughout the country that a candidate will be able to become a national leader.
That is, the essence of this scheme is support for the principle of federalism in the United States.
Disputes surrounding the electoral system
With such a system, some paradoxes are possible. An applicant who receives more votes than his opponent can safely lose to him because of 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 it is appointed by an electoral college assembled from all states.
The highlight of the system is that the principle applies: all or nothing. It doesn’t matter if the candidate won, say in California, with a 99% to 1% margin, or won by a single vote. In any case, he gets the entire electoral quota assigned to this staff (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.
Disputes over the need for reform have been ongoing for a long time, but given the traditional conservatism of Americans in the field of laws, changes will take a long time.
The reason for Trump's victory in the 2016 elections
This is what happened in the recent US elections. More people voted for Clinton. But the majority was ensured by the overwhelming superiority of Democrats in those states where traditionally all electors are given to them. Trump's victory was that he was able to win in those states where voters have not yet decided clearly on their preferences.
There are several wavering states where there are no pronounced preferences for Democrats or Republicans. Three to four large ones are significant. In turn, the most important of them is Florida, which delegated 27 electors. Almost always a winner in Florida and becomes president of the country. In other words, the whole point of the election campaign is to secure an advantage in three or four of the 50 states!
This is what Donald Trump did. He neglected the struggle in California and New York, hopeless for him, and concentrated all his power exactly where it was required.
Historical incidents
Today it’s clear how the president is elected in the United States. But at the dawn of statehood, complex questions arose.
With equal votes, the president was elected by the House of Representatives. That is how Jefferson was elected in 1800 and Adams in 1824. Such a rule still exists today, but in practice it does not reach this point, since the struggle is waged only between two real applicants. Although, given the even number of electors, this option is theoretically possible.
