Election of the US President
Election of the US President The general process of electing the United States president is provided for in the constitution having been amended several times. With several steps being accommodated over time, the method has acquired a new look altogether. Both the president and vice president are selected in every four years. The two must have reached minimum age of thirty five years, be citizens of United States by birth and must have resided in the United States for a minimum period of fourteen years. This article will focus on the process of electing a US president, with particular attention paid to the purpose and operation of the Electoral College and presidential primary elections.
Elections for President and Vice President of the US are indirect elections in which voters cast ballots for a slate of electors of the US Electoral College, that in turn directly elect the President and Vice President. The process of electing a US president is done with combining two-step processes. The first step is performed by the nation’s electorate while the second step is performed by the group of people known as the “presidential electors.” The Electoral College is organized to guarantee the indirect election of the president. Citizens cast ballots for the presidential and vice presidential team base on their choice. However, they are really selecting “electors” who will actually elect the US president and vice president. The chosen electors of each state would meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December to cast their votes for president and vice president. If a president is elected without an absolute majority of the electoral votes cast, the House of Representatives select the winner from the top three candidates. The vice president is selected in the similar way.
However, if no candidates receive the majority vote the US, senate selects the winner from the top two candidates. The Electoral College is a method of indirectly selecting the US president. It gives a chance to do double check on direct election by the people whether they made a mistake or not. It is part of the elite theory of making sure if a poor candidate for president was elected by direct election, then the Electoral College will disapprove the decision. The founding fathers of our nation were considered to be framers, nation’s framers. Because they feared the direct election as the way of electing the nation’s highest, they made the Electoral College. In early history, they had week two party system, which could have allowed the good candidates to divide the vote, which could select a radical candidate or a candidate the most of the popular vote did not prefer. The famers were hoping that the wise electors would make independent judgments.
The advantages to the Electoral College are that, it requires a distribution of popular support. With nationwide support, the candidate is at a better advantage with knowledge of how people all over the nation are feeling and knows what to promise the US people to get elected. It also encourages a two party system. Even though the third party candidates might think this a disadvantage, it actually keeps the election simple. You choose between two major candidates. You don’t have to decide between different candidates with different views every year. It makes the decision more easier; it protects minority interests that could be easily ignored in a direct election; with all the different minorities in this nation, this system keeps it simple by letting the electors know what all different people’s type want and what the candidates have to give them to be elected.
On the other hand, the disadvantages to the Electoral College vary in that; big states have greater power in selecting the US president. This causes the candidates in the general election to concentrate on the key states, which have the most electoral votes. You don’t have to win all the keys states, but you need 270 electoral votes of the state. Many feel this is not fair to people of candidates in states where it might be highly close to which does not represent the true weight of the vote in that state for President. If there are no enough Electoral Votes and we have to then send the selection of the President from the Electoral College to the House of Representatives, a different candidate than the top two candidates.
The long process of choosing the US president started with a series of individual state primary elections, in which voters particular parties express their preference among a series of candidates. While typically voting for a particular candidate, voters actually choose a slate of delegates for each party to represent that state at the political convention of the party. The delegates gather at the political convention of the each party. Therefore, the delegates formally submit their votes for the nominees, and the person with the most votes becomes the presidential candidate of the party for the general election. There are some the primary system’s reforming. Some reformers have called for a single nationwide primary to be held on one day. Others point out that requiring candidates to campaign in every state simultaneously would exacerbate the campaigns’ problem being dominated by the candidates who raise the most money. Substitute reform ideas would return the presidential primary season to a more relaxed schedule. Fewer primaries in smaller states would allow grassroots campaigns to score early successes and pick up steam.
