About the Presidential Election Process

The U.S. presidential election process is very long and complicated. It happens every 4 years and involves several candidates, thousands of volunteers and millions of campaign dollars. It is a process of attrition. Ambitious candidates announce they want to be the president then try to gather funding and popular support. Those who fail drop out. Those who succeed move on to the state primaries and caucuses. Other candidates quit as the more popular ones win contests and raise more money. Each political party eventually nominates their champion to represent them in the general election. The winner of the electoral college becomes the next president.

History

Candidates running for president tend to be ambitious people who have already succeeded in leadership roles. Historically, they have been governors, senators, representatives, generals and vice presidents. The U.S. Constitution states that the president must be at least 35 years old, a natural-born citizen of the United States and a resident of the country for at least 14 years. The president can be either gender, of any race and any religion. Since running for president is such a long and arduous process, most candidates declare their campaigns at least 2 years before election day.

Types

Every state has either a primary election or caucuses before the general election for president. They happen at different times between January and June of an election year. Iowa is always the first caucus, and New Hampshire the first primary for Democrats and Republicans. Delegates are selected in these contests. In caucuses, there are meetings where people gather and choose candidates to support. Primaries involve casting ballots like other elections. As candidates gather delegates and win contests, they become more viable candidates. This is important for raising money to run the campaign and buy television commercial time.

Benefits

In June of the presidential election year, political parties have conventions. They select their nominee for president based on the number of delegates they gathered during the primary season. Usually, the choice is already obvious since those unlikely to get the nomination drop out of the race. However, sometimes the race is so close that the battle goes to the convention floor. The eventual winner gets the benefit of the party's backing. Old rivalries are put aside and support is thrown behind the nominee. The nominee then selects a vice presidential candidate to run with him or her.

Features

The party nominees campaign against each other in the general election between June and November of a presidential election year. Even though it is supposed to be a national campaign, candidates focus on some states more than others. This is because some states traditionally vote for Democratic candidates and some for Republican candidates. When polling indicates that there is no hope of victory in that state, candidates devote resources elsewhere. Victory comes down to winning a few key "battleground" states.

Function

Election day is the first Tuesday of November. All voters are allowed to cast ballots for one candidate for president. However, they are actually voting for electors of the Electoral College. Each state has a number of electors equal to its number of senators plus representatives. California has the most with 54. Several states and the District of Columbia have the minimum of three electoral votes. The candidate who wins the vote in most states gets all that state's electoral votes. The candidate who gets at least 270 electoral votes is elected president.

Resources

• Presidential Election Process