Elections - Text
Hello, and thanks for taking the time today to learn about elections in the United States. As you know, one of the most interesting presidential elections in U.S. history culminated last November, when Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States of America. Even though his election received by far the most media attention, it was only one of thousands of elections that took place that day all across the country. In this video, we’ll explain the elections that take place in the United States on a federal, state, and local level.
You might know that like Colombia, the United States has a federal government, meaning that while the national government makes many decisions that affect all Americans [estadounidenses], much of the work of governing is left to the individual states. State governors and legislators affect Americans’ daily lives just as much as or more so than the President and Congress. Thus, Americans take their state and local elections very seriously.
Each state organizes its own elections; an official at the state level, usually elected by the people of that state, is responsible for all election logistics, from setting up polling places to mailing out absentee ballots to designing the actual ballot. Their preparation and decisions can have great impact.
For example, in the close-run presidential election in 2000, many people criticized the design of Florida’s ballot, which was difficult to read and likely resulted in some citizens voting for one candidate while thinking they were voting for another.
To vote, American citizens must register with the state where they live, usually through a local county elections office. They then use one ballot to vote for federal, state, and local officials all at the same time. Note that there are two types of elections: primary elections, held to choose each party’s candidate, and the general election, which determines the final winner.
Local officials vary depending on the city and county where one lives, but they might include the city mayor, the members of the local school board, local judges, the county commissioner, and the coroner. State officials include the governor and other high-ranking executive officials and members of the state’s legislature. At the federal level, Americans vote for their president, vice-president, and members of Congress – two Senators, who represent their State, and the Representative who represents their Congressional district.
Now we’ll talk in a bit more detail about the federal elections process. In recent years, each campaign cycle has become longer and longer, to the point that potential candidates in 2012 are already thinking about whether they will run. For example, Sarah Palin, last year’s Republican vice-presidential candidate, is already fielding questions from the press about her intentions in 2012. Thus, the “primary season” – when contenders battle it out to become their party’s candidate – lasted well over a year in the last campaign, and it could last even longer the next time around.
Keep in mind that although the major political parties in the United States are the Republicans and Democrats, and they get most of the media’s attention, there are many other political parties in the United States who nominate presidential and vice presidential candidates, such as the Greens and the Libertarians. Independent candidates also run, as Ross Perot did in 1992 and Ralph Nader did in 2000 (and again in 2004 and 2008).
The intent of the presidential primary season is to provide an opportunity for the electorate to find out what the candidates stand for, and to test the candidates on their views and their leadership. The primary season culminates with the primary elections. Last year, the timing of these elections was a point of debate. Traditionally, Iowa holds the first primary, with New Hampshire a close second. Thus, they receive many visits and a lot of attention from the presidential candidates. In an effort to win some of this attention for themselves, many states moved their own primary elections forward.
There are two types of primary elections: polls and caucuses. Polls, like those in general elections, involve a ballot and the tallying of those ballots at the end of the day. Caucuses are much more interactive. Voters gather at a local school or other community location and organize themselves by their favorite candidate. Then each group tries to convince the others that they should support their own candidate, and voters are given the chance to switch groups before the final count.
All of the caucuses and primaries have one purpose: to elect the delegates who will represent the Republicans and Democrats at their respective conventions. These conventions take place during the late summer of a presidential election year, and they provide an opportunity for the parties to rally together, announce their platforms, and celebrate their candidates in front of the world. They end with the formal nomination of the party’s candidates for President and Vice President.
One interesting side note: On several occasions, a dazzling speech at a convention has resulted in a later victory in a Presidential race. In recent years, this has been true for Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, and it was true again this year: Barack Obama's inspiring speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention catapulted him into the national spotlight and was the impetus for his presidential run.
After the conventions, there are roughly two months until Election Day. During this time, the candidates are on the road constantly, giving speeches, meeting voters, and elaborating on their platform positions.
But the United States is an enormous country, and it would be impossible for Presidential candidates to meet every potential voter. Some states nearly always vote Republican or Democrat, while others, called “battleground” or “swing” states, vary depending on the year and the particular candidates. The candidates tend to visit the battleground or swing states more often and spend more money on advertising there.
Election Day is always the first Tuesday in November. At this point, for the Presidential and Vice Presidential election, the Electoral College comes into play. A bit of historical background will help explain what the Electoral College is and how we arrived at the system we use today. The U.S. Constitution puts the power of selecting the President in the hands of electors, not voters. The drafters of the Constitution devised the role of electors as part of their plan to share power between the states and the national government.
We don’t elect the President and Vice President through a direct nationwide vote, but rather by the combined results of 50 state elections (and the District of Colombia). Each state has a number of electors equivalent to the number of Senators and Representatives the state has in Congress. Each state has two Senators, regardless of population. The number of Representatives is based on the state’s population. A populous state like Texas has 34 electors, which comes from two Senators plus 32 Representatives. A small state like Vermont has 3 electors, two Senators plus only one Representative.
In all states except two, the winner takes all. So, even if a candidate wins a state by the slimmest of margins in the popular vote – as George W. Bush did in Florida in the 2000 election – that candidate gains all of the electors for that state. The total number of electors is 538. A candidate must win at least half of the electors, or 270, to win the Presidency.
Forty-one days after the general election, the electors cast their votes, meeting in their respective state capitol buildings. The tallies are signed by each elector and mailed to Washington, D.C. There, in a joint session of Congress, the electoral votes are counted, and the candidate receiving 270 or more votes is declared to be the President-elect.
The process is repeated for the Vice President, and on the third Tuesday in January, the inauguration of the new President of the United States takes place.
Thank you for your attention and your interest in the U.S. elections system. For more information on how the U.S. government works, please visit America.gov.