How the President of The United States is Elected

This is, hopefully, a not-too-direly-doomed attempt to clarify a process that confuses U.S. citizens and fascinated foreigners alike.

According to the U.S. Constitution, qualified candidates for President of the United States must be:

1. A natural-born citizen of the United States, and
2. At least 35 years of age, and
3. A resident of the United States for at least 14 years.

^{(U.S. Constitution -- Article II, Section 1)}

Further, no individual can be elected President more than twice. And no individual who has served as President for more than two years of a term for which they were not elected (e.g., a Vice-President who assumes the office after the disability or death of a President) can be elected more than once.

^{(U.S. Constitution -- Amendment XXII, Section 1 [ratified February 27, 1951])}

The Presidential candidate chooses the Vice-Presidential candidate (aka "running mate"). The two candidates are popularly known as a "ticket."

The Electoral College is not a fancy private school for future Presidents ... but this institution does determine a candidate's fate.

It is not a place, but a body of 538 persons, known as "electors," representing all 50 states plus the District of Columbia (D.C.). Electors are chosen by candidates and political parties.

We don't vote directly for the Presidential ticket. We vote for electors, and our vote is known as the "popular vote." They do the actual voting, known as the "electoral vote." The candidate who receives a majority of electoral votes wins the Presidency.

This is why there can be ... discrepancies ... between the electoral vote and the popular vote.

If no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the decision falls to the House of Representatives.

^{(U.S. Constitution -- Amendment XII)}

(HUBBER'S NOTE: I know, I know ... things went a wee bit differently in 2000. Any attempt to explain that fiasco is far, far beyond the scope of this Hub.)

Each of the 50 states chooses its favored nominee, either by a primary election or a caucus vote.

State Primary Elections: A statewide election is held to determine that state's choice for the Presidential nominee for each political party. If the state holds an open primary, voters may choose candidates for any party they wish. In a closed primary, voters may choose candidates only for the party they are registered in, or have declared.

Caucuses: Meetings for every political party are held in precincts, districts or counties. Registered voters attend their preferred party's meeting. Participants form into groups according to favored candidate (or undecided). Speakers for each candidate try to convince people to move from one group to another. A state convention may be held at a later date to determine the final result, as in Iowa. Most Republican caucuses are winner-take all -- one candidate gets all the national convention delegates. Most Democratic caucuses require candidates to win a certain proportion of votes, and national convention delegates are distributed proportionally.

Influence: Political forecasters and the media race to separate the frontunners from the rest of the pack. Iowa and New Hampshire do not bring in huge gobs of national convention delegates or electors, but because the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary are (for now), the first two elections held, those two states wield a great deal of influence.

In recent years, other states -- notably California, Michigan and Florida -- have pushed their own primary/caucus dates ahead so that they can have some say in who the nominees will be. A growing trend? Perhaps, but the Democratic National Committee ruled that Michigan and Florida held their primaries too early, and stripped those states of their convention delegates. It is expected that the final act in this drama will play out at the Democratic National Convention to be held in Denver, CO on August 25-28, 2008.

Each political party holds its convention in late summer or early autumn. But the party nominee is usually known, and all other candidates have dropped out, many months before the convention. After a single and to-all-intents-and-purposes ceremonial vote, the convention makes the nomination official.

At least, that's how it's been since the mid-20^th Century. The now-unlikely event where no candidate has decisively won the nomination before the convention would result in a "brokered convention." Horsetrading, hard-sells and extra voting sessions would ensue. But for better or worse ... the media's focus on early front-runners, the Democratic Party's "Superdelegates" who are not bound to honor the results of any state primary or caucus, and the Republican Party's winner-take-all caucuses all work to ensure an early selection of a Presidential nominee.

National conventions also feature training sessions, speeches and approval of the National Party Platform.

After a few more months of campaign ads and whistle-stops, voters across the nation get to have their say -- that is, they get to elect electors to the Electoral College -- on the 1^st Tuesday following the 1^st Monday in November.

(This year, 2008, Election Day is November 4. Don't forget to vote! Remember ... if you don't vote, you can't complain.)

The President-Elect

Assuming no major irregularities occur in 2008:

The Electoral College will vote in December. Electoral and popular votes usually yield the same result, but exceptions are not unknown (see sidebar).

The President of the Senate and the National Archivist should receive all electoral votes by December 24. The votes will be transmitted to Congress on or before January 3. Congress will count the votes on January 9.

The new President and Vice-President will be sworn into office at noon on January 20.