United States presidential election
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United States presidential elections determine who serves as president and vice president of the United States for a four-year term, starting at midday on Inauguration Day, which is January 20 of the year after the election. The elections are conducted by the various states and not by the federal government.
The presidential election occurs quadrennially (the count beginning with the year 1792) on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November. The most recent election occurred on November 2, 2004. The next election is scheduled for November 4, 2008.
The current process is an indirect election. Constitutionally, the election is by United States Electoral College electors, who are chosen by methods each state individually establishes. The electors can vote for anyone, but—with rare exceptions (see faithless elector)—they vote for the designated candidates and their votes are certified by Congress in early January. The Congress is the final judge of the electors; the last serious dispute was in United States presidential election, 2000.
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[edit] How elections are administered
The election of the president and vice president of the United States Constitution are elected on the same ticket by the Electoral College, whose members are selected from each state; the president and vice president serve four-year terms. These electors are appointed by mechanisms chosen by each state's legislature (prevailingly, by popular vote of the voters of each state). The individual who receives a majority of votes for president — as of 2008, 270 votes are needed for a majority — will be the president-elect of the United States; and the individual who receives a majority of electoral votes for vice president will be the vice president-elect of the United States. If no presidential candidate receives a majority in the Electoral College, then the president-elect will be selected by a vote of the House of Representatives, with each state receiving a single vote. If no vice presidential candidate receives a majority, then the vice president-elect will be selected by a vote of the Senate. Although rare, these latter scenarios have occurred twice in America's history; the House of Representatives chose the president in 1825, and the Senate chose the vice president in 1837.
Elections take place every four years on the first Tuesday following the first Monday of November (although in many states early and absentee voting begins several weeks before Election Day). The elections are run by local election boards who ensure the fair and impartial nature of the election and prevent tampering of the results.
Neither the constitution, nor the amendments describe the manner for states to select their electoral college representatives. This means then that individual citizens are not granted the right to vote for president by the federal government but rather by their respective state or local governments. This does not mean the current system is unconstitutional; it is just not constitutionally protected and individual states do have a right therefore to bar their citizens from voting for President. (See Disfranchisement.)
[edit] Ballot candidates
Voters are required to vote on a ballot where they select the candidate of their choice. The presidential ballot is actually voting "for the electors of a candidate" meaning that the voter is not actually voting for the candidate, but endorsing members of the Electoral College who will, in turn, directly elect the President.
Many voting ballots allow a voter to "blanket vote" for all candidates in a particular political party or to select individual candidates on a line by line voting system. Which candidates appear on the voting ticket is determined through a legal process known as ballot access. Usually, the size of the candidate's political party and the results of the major nomination conventions determine who is pre-listed on the presidential ballot. Thus, the presidential election ticket will not list every single candidate running for President, but only those who have secured a major party nomination or whose size of their political party warrants having been formally listed. Laws are in effect to have other candidates pre-listed on a ticket, provided that a sufficient number of voters have endorsed the candidate, usually through a signature list. Never, however, in U.S. history has a 3rd party candidate for president secured a place on the election ticket in this fashion.[citation needed]
The final way to be elected for president is to have one's name written in at the time of election as a write-in candidate. This is used for candidates who did not fulfill the legal requirements to be pre-listed on the voting ticket. It is also used by voters to express a distaste for the listed candidates, by writing in a ridiculous candidate for president such as Mickey Mouse. In any event, a write-in candidate has never won an election for President of the United States.
[edit] Non-majority votes
In the presidential election of 1800, Aaron Burr, Jefferson's vice presidential candidate, received the same number of electoral votes as Jefferson and challenged Jefferson's election to the office. In the end, Jefferson was chosen as the president due to Alexander Hamilton's influence in the House of Representatives. This created a deep rivalry between Burr and Hamilton which resulted in their famous 1804 duel. After this election, the 12th Amendment was passed to stop a future event like this one.
In the presidential election of 1824, Andrew Jackson received a plurality, but not a majority, of electoral votes cast. The election was thrown to the House of Representatives, and John Quincy Adams was elected to the presidency. In this case as well, a deep rivalry was fermented, this time between Andrew Jackson and House Speaker Henry Clay, who had also been a candidate in the election.
According to the current system, the same one used in the election of 1824, if no candidate wins a majority vote in the electoral, the President and Vice President are chosen per the 12th Amendment. The selection of President is decided by a ballot of the House of Representatives. For the purposes of electing the President, each state only has one vote. A ballot of the Senate is held to choose the Vice President. In this ballot, each senator has one vote. If the President is not chosen by Inauguration Day, the Vice President-elect acts as President. If neither are chosen by then, Congress by law determines who shall act as President, pursuant to the 20th Amendment.
[edit] Nominating process
The nominating process of U.S. presidential elections currently consists of two major parts: a series of presidential primary elections and caucuses held in each state, and the presidential nominating conventions held by each political party. This process is not included in the United States Constitution, and thus evolved over time.
The primary elections and caucuses are run by state and local governments. Some states only hold primary elections, some only hold caucuses, and others use a combination of both. These primaries and caucuses are staggered between January and June before the federal election, with Iowa and New Hampshire traditionally holding the first presidential state caucus and primary, respectively.
Like the general election, presidential caucuses or primaries select the candidates indirectly. The major political parties officially vote for their presidential candidate at their respective nominating conventions, usually all held in the summer before the federal election. Depending on each state's law and state's political party rules, when voters cast ballots for a candidate in a presidential caucus or primary, they may actually be voting to award delegates "bound" to vote for a candidate at the presidential nominating conventions, or they may simply be expressing an opinion that the state party is not bound to follow in selecting delegates to their respective national convention.
In addition to delegates chosen during primaries and caucuses, state delegations to both the Democratic and Republican conventions also include "unpledged" delegates who can vote for whomever they want. For Republicans, these include top party officials. Democrats have a more expansive group of unpledged delegates called "superdelegates", who are party leaders and elected officials.
[edit] Presidential election trends
In recent decades, one of the presidential nominees of the Democratic and Republican parties has almost always been an incumbent president or a sitting or former vice president. When the candidate has not been a president or vice president, nominees of the two main parties have been state Governors or U.S. Senators. The last nominee from either party who had not previously served in such an office was General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who won the Republican nomination and ultimately the presidency in the 1952 election.
Contemporary electoral success has favored state governors. Of the last five presidents, four (Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush) have been governors of a state (all except for George H. W. Bush). Geographically, these presidents were from either very large states (California, Texas) or from a state south of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of Texas (Georgia, Arkansas). The last sitting U.S. Senator to be elected president was John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts in 1960. The only other sitting senator to be elected was Warren G. Harding in 1920, whereas major-party candidate Senators Andrew Jackson (1824), Lewis Cass (1848), Stephen Douglas (1860), Barry Goldwater (1964), George McGovern (1972), and John Kerry (2004) all lost their elections. In 2008, the presumptive nominees of both major-parties are senators, so a senator will almost certainly be elected president for the 2009-2013 term.
[edit] Results
- * Winner received less than an absolute majority of the popular vote.
- † Losing candidate received a plurality of the popular vote.
- ‡ Losing candidate received an absolute majority of the popular vote.
[edit] Voter turnout
Voter turnout in presidential elections has been on the decline in recent years, although the 2004 election showed a noticeable increase over the turnout in 1996 and 2000. While voter turnout has been decreasing, voter registration has been increasing. Registration rates varied from 65% to 70% of the voting age population from the 1960s to the 1980s, and due in part to greater government outreach programs, registration swelled to 75% in 1996 and 2000. Despite greater registration, however, turnout in general has not greatly improved.[3][4][5]
| Election | Voting Age Population ¹ | Turnout | % Turnout of VAP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 215,694,000 | 122,295,345 | 56.69% |
| 2000 | 205,815,000 | 105,586,274 | 51.31% |
| 1996 | 196,511,000 | 96,456,345 | 49.08% |
| 1992 | 189,529,000 | 104,405,155 | 55.09% |
| 1988 | 182,778,000 | 91,594,693 | 50.11% |
| 1984 | 174,466,000 | 92,652,680 | 53.11% |
| 1980 | 164,597,000 | 86,515,221 | 52.56% |
| 1976 | 152,309,190 | 81,555,789 | 53.55% |
| 1972 | 140,776,000 | 77,718,554 | 55.21% |
| 1968 | 120,328,186 | 73,199,998 | 60.83% |
| 1964 | 114,090,000 | 70,644,592 | 60.92% |
| 1960 | 109,159,000 | 68,838,204 | 63.06% |
¹ The voting age population includes all persons age 18 and over as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, which necessarily includes a significant number of persons ineligible to vote, such as non-citizens, felons, and the mentally incompetent. The actual number of eligible voters is somewhat lower, and the number of registered voters is lower still. The number of non-citizens in 1994 was approximately 13 million, and in 1996, felons numbered around 1.3 million, so it can be estimated that around 7-10% of the voting age population is ineligible to vote.
Note that the large drop in percentage turnout between 1968 and 1972 can be attributed (at least in part) to the expansion of the franchise to 18 year olds (previously restricted to those 21 and older).
[edit] Scientific forecasts
[edit] See also
- United States presidential primary
- United States presidential nominating convention
- United States presidential election debates
- List of United States presidential elections by Electoral College margin
- American election campaigns in the 19th century
- United States presidential election, 2008
- Comparison of United States presidential candidates, 2008
- United States Election Night Television Coverage
[edit] Notes
- ^ Here a “major candidate” is defined as a candidate receiving greater than 2% of the total popular vote for elections including and after 1824, or greater than 5 electoral votes for elections including and before 1820. (This column may not be complete.)
- ^ Horace Greeley died before electoral votes were cast, but had come in second in the popular vote
- ^ "National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960-1996". Federal Election Commission (2003-07-29). Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
- ^ "Election Information: Election Statistics". Office of the Clerk. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
- ^ "Voting and Registration Date". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
- Presidents John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur and Gerald Ford served as president but never won an election for president.
- Ford was never elected vice-president.
- Tyler and A. Johnson were never major candidates, not even as incumbent presidents.
- Fillmore was a major candidate, but not as an incumbent.
[edit] External links
- The American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara: 52,000+ Presidential Documents)
- Electoral College Box Scores
- Teaching about Presidential Elections
- All the maps since 1840 by counties (French language site)
- Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
- History of U.S. Presidential Elections: 1789-2004
- A history of the presidency from the point of view of Vermont Discusses history of American presidential elections with two states as opposite "poles", Vermont, and Alabama
- The Living Room Candidate: A Compilation of Presidential Television Ads
- Presidential Campaigns - News, Polls and More
- A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825
- How close were Presidential Elections? - Michael Sheppard, Michigan State University
- Better World Links on the U.S. Presidential Election
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