PNN – The American presidential election is an indirect election that, due to a complex mechanism, the president and his vice president are elected for a 4-year term, to take the responsibility of the new government of this country after taking the oath on January 20. November 5th is actually the last chance for the American people to participate in the elections to leave the fate of their country in the hands of Trump or Harris; An election that the world is watching.
The 60th US presidential election will be held on November 5. The special mechanism and method of the presidential election in this country of 345 million people can be followed in 4 stages and three points. The important point is that the presidential election process in this country always starts one year before the election date.
The first point: one year before the election
US presidential elections are held every four years on Election Day, which has been the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November since 1845. This date coincides with general elections for other federal, state, and local races. Since local governments are responsible for managing elections, these contests are usually all reflected on one ballot.
The candidates of the two main political parties, Democrats and Republicans, start their election campaigns one year before the 2024 presidential Election Day (November 5). They form their election team and travel to different states of America across the country to collect donations and political support for their election campaigns.
The Democrats are the liberal political party whose agenda is largely defined by greater activism on civil rights, an expanded social safety net, and action to combat climate change. Republicans are also the conservative political party in the United States. This political establishment is known as the oldest party in America, which emphasizes lower taxes, shrinking the size of government, gun rights and stricter restrictions on immigration and abortion.
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The second point: campaigns and debates
Candidates of both parties participate in televised debates after a long period of competition in different campaigns. During the debates, each candidate must answer tough questions about their policies, as well as defend their positions on issues and policies against the other candidates.
Then the election process begins.
The third point: Who can be a candidate for the presidential election in the United States?
According to the Constitution of the United States, the president of this country must have the following conditions:
– Be a citizen of the United States.
– Be at least 35 years old.
– Be a resident of the United States for 14 years.
Anyone who has these conditions can announce his candidacy for the presidency. When a candidate raises or spends more than $5,000 on their campaign, they must register with the Federal Election Commission.
The info graphic of the American election process is as follows:
The first phase of the US presidential election: primaries and caucuses
There are many figures from the two main parties, Republicans and Democrats, who want to be president, and each has their own ideas about how government should work. Since in America, the two mentioned parties hold the foundation and the main pyramid of power, politics and government in this country, mostly candidates from these two groups enter the election campaigns. For this reason, the first step in the US presidential election is the primary election in groups. Candidates of every political party across the country are campaigning to win the opinion of their party members.
Stage 2: National conventions
Political parties hold national conventions to elect presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Each party holds a national convention to choose the final presidential candidate. State delegates from primaries and caucuses elected to represent the people now “endorse” their preferred candidates, and the final presidential nominee from each party is officially announced at the end of the Democratic and Republican conventions. These conventions, in addition to the presidential candidate of the party, also choose the vice presidential candidate. Presidential candidates are campaigning across the country to gain public support.
For the 2024 presidential election, from the Republican Party, Donald Trump, the former president, won the support of his party by widely surpassing his rivals. At a party convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he became the official Republican nominee and chose Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate.
Kamala Harris, the vice president of the Democrats, was chosen as the main candidate of this party after the resignation of Joe Biden. Her deputy is Minnesota Governor Tim Walls.
Stage 3: General elections
The American people vote for a president and vice president in 50 states across the country. In other words, when Americans go to the polls in November, they will choose their favorite presidential candidate and vice president.
Stage 4: Electoral college
The Electoral College is the final stage of the long process of the United States presidential election. In fact, the Electoral College is a process in which the electors or electors or representatives of each state cast their votes in proportion to the population of that state, and based on this process, determine who will become president.
The important point is that each state will have a certain number of electors based on its representation in Congress. A total of 538 electors or electors are determined according to the policy of each state, and each of them has one vote after the general election, and the candidate who receives more than half of the votes (270 votes) wins.
The United States of America is a federal republic, consisting of 50 states, one federal district (Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States), five large territories, and various small islands. The largest state in terms of population is California with a population of over 39 million and the smallest state is Wyoming with a population of 576,851.
Election and voting day: November 5 or November 15
Before Tuesday, Nov. 5, when polling stations open across America, several million Americans cast their ballots by mail or early voting. In other words, November 5 is not the first day, but the last opportunity and deadline that the American people can participate in the 2024 presidential elections. According to media reports, on this day, about 244 million Americans are expected to go to the polls to choose their next president.
Summary
The President of the United States is elected in an indirect process by 538 members of the Presidential Electoral College. In fact, the winning candidate is not chosen by the direct votes of the people. Instead, a complex system of “electoral votes” determines the winner. In fact, the winning candidate needs at least 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.
The question may be raised, why the US presidential election is not conducted with a general voting system? It is worth noting that the founders of this country chose this mechanism because they believed that public voting would be against the country’s federalism system.
They were trying to establish a special election process that they thought would be the fairest way to elect a president in a country whose states are not demographically proportional. In fact, in the general voting system, each person has one vote, but in the method of indirect election through the Electoral College, the states with more population have a greater influence on the fate of the elections and exclude the less populated states. For example, California, with more than 39 million people, has more influence than several less populated states in this country.
This state has two senators and 52 members of the parliament, with a total of 54 electoral votes.
Importantly, according to Article 2, Section 1, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, “No Senator or Representative, or person holding any office of profit or profit in the United States, shall be appointed as an elector.” Each state has its own process for choosing the Electoral College, which traditionally includes people loyal to the party or providing services to the party’s chosen candidate.
Finally, in 48 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the candidate with the most electoral votes wins the field. Electoral votes are very effective in the fate of candidates because in 2016 Trump was able to get to the White House with more electoral votes than Hillary Clinton.