American electoral system

US electoral system

The US presidential election adopts an indirect electoral system. First, voters in each state vote to elect electors in their state (the number is equal to the number of members of Congress in the state), and then the electors in each state vote at the same time in each state's capital to elect the president and vice president. The election of members shall be conducted through direct suffrage. Representatives are directly elected by voters in each state; senators are initially elected by state legislatures. The 17th Amendment to the Constitution that took effect in 1913 stipulates that senators are also directly elected by voters in each state. Governors, legislators, and in some states judges and important administrative officials are elected by voters. Elections at all levels are generally run by the two parties. In order to ensure the dominance of the two parties, single-name constituency systems and majority representation systems are generally implemented.

Voter qualifications: All U.S. citizens over the age of 18 have the right to vote. Except for North Dakota, all other states require voters to register in advance before they can vote.

Candidate Qualifications The Constitution stipulates that anyone who is over 25 years old and has been a U.S. citizen for 7 years can run for Congress; anyone who is over 30 years old and has been a U.S. citizen for 9 years can run for Congress. Run for Senate. But candidates must live in the district when they run for office (hence the first lady of the United States, Hillary Clinton, who temporarily moved to New York state to run for New York State Senate).

Methods for selecting candidates There are many ways to select candidates, such as recommendation by party organizations, roll call of powerful political figures, and recommendation by interest groups. However, in most cases, candidates are self-recommended. If a candidate belongs to a certain political party, he must defeat other opponents in the party in the preselection in order to win the party's nomination. In some congressional districts where one party is overwhelmingly dominant, winning that party's nomination is all but winning the race.

Ordinary candidates obtain party nominations through preliminary elections. The establishment of the preselection system took more than a century. In the 1830s, the United States formed a system in which candidates were nominated by party congresses. Since then, most congressmen have been nominated by secret meetings within the party. This system makes the selection of congressmen often controlled by party leaders. In 1867, Crawford County in Pennsylvania first used the direct primary method to nominate local candidates for public office, that is, voters from both parties directly voted to determine the candidates nominated by that party. At the beginning of the 20th century, the direct preselection system was promoted. By 1917, 44 of the 48 states in the country had implemented some form of direct preselection. All 50 states in the United States now use direct primaries to nominate party candidates.

Senator election method: Senators in Congress are directly elected by each state. Each state elects 2 senators, a total of 100 people, for a term of 6 years, and one third is re-elected every two years. The specific method is The senators are divided into three groups, one group will be re-elected after two years, one group will be re-elected after four years, and one group will be re-elected after six years. The basic allocation principle is to ensure that two members of a state's terms do not expire in the same year. If a senator dies or resigns during his term, the governor shall organize a by-election, unless the state legislative body authorizes the governor to appoint a successor to the senator. The successor may serve until the next general election, but in the general election the successor shall only run for his predecessor. For the remaining term, if a senator has a 6-year term and dies in the 3rd year, his successor will participate in the general election one year after taking over, and the elected person will only serve for 2 years. Currently, 49 of the 50 states authorize the governor to appoint a successor to the Senate. The only exception is Oregon, which must elect a successor to the Senate through by-elections.

Before 1866, there was no unified federal senator election system in the United States. Each state did its own thing. About half of the states used bicameral voting, that is, the two houses of the state parliament were elected separately in units of chambers until both houses passed the vote. The disadvantage of this system is that the two houses are often deadlocked, so that some state seats in the Senate remain vacant for several months after Congress meets. The other half of the states use a "joint voting system", in which members of both houses of the state assembly vote together, and whoever gets the majority of the votes is elected. The electoral system of each state has brought a lot of confusion to congressional elections. In July 1866, the Senate Judiciary Committee submitted a report to the whole chamber, recommending that Congress pass a law to unify the senatorial election system. Both houses of Congress quickly passed relevant bills.

The new method of election of senators is: the two houses of the state assembly vote separately, and the senators are elected by voice vote. The next day, the two houses should hold a joint meeting to count the voting results of the two houses. If the two houses separately If the same person is elected as a federal senator by a majority of the votes, that person shall be declared elected immediately; if no one obtains a majority of both houses at the same time, the two houses of the state parliament shall meet jointly at least once a day at 12 noon every day during the same session. Vote until a federal senator is elected.

This method of electing federal senators through indirect elections was still used until 1913. In 1913, two-thirds of the states ratified the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, which stipulates that the senators of the United States shall be elected by the people of each state, that is, they shall be pre-selected by the voters of the state before the senators are elected by the state assembly. The election of the state assembly is essentially just a vote of The pre-selection results will be stamped with the official seal.

Currently, 48 states in the United States require only one vote for Senate elections, and those who obtain a simple majority can be elected. The only exceptions are Georgia and Louisiana.

Voting in the Senate election is optional.

The U.S. Constitution stipulates the election principles for representatives of the House of Representatives as follows: Representatives of Congress are elected according to the proportion of the population of each state. The ratio of representatives to the population shall not exceed 1:30,000 (that is, each person Representatives must represent at least 30,000 voters), but each state should have at least one representative. The U.S. Census is conducted every 10 years and seats in the House of Representatives are redistributed based on the census results. If this ratio is used, the number of members of the U.S. Congress will now be as high as 7,000. The current number of 435 members was determined based on the results of the 13th census in 1910. In the 87th Congress, Alaska and Hawaii were each given a quota, leaving the House of Representatives with 437 members. However, people generally believed that a legislative body with 650 members like the British House of Commons was too large and cumbersome, and they did not want to add more. The number of representatives, so in 1929, Congress fixed the total number of representatives at 435 and no longer increased with the population.

The U.S. Constitution stipulates that the number of voters represented by the House of Representatives shall not be less than 30,000, but in practice this provision is found to be too broad. It is incompatible with the principle of "trying to make each member represent the same number of voters as other members represents" established by the Supreme Court through cases. Therefore, the Supreme Court passed a case and ruled that when drawing electoral districts, the population ratio difference in each district should not exceed 3.1.

In 1967, the United States passed a law that abolished all methods of electing representatives on a state basis. That is, if a state is allocated 3 quotas, the state must divide the state into 3 districts, each of which A constituency elects one congressman, and voters across the state cannot collectively vote to elect three congressmen, unless of course there is only one quota in the state. In the current distribution of seats in the House of Representatives, California has the largest number of seats, with 52; followed by New York, with 31 seats; seven states including Alaska have one seat each; and only 14 states have more than 10 seats.

In addition to members elected by each state, the House of Representatives also has territorial representatives (Resident Commissioners) from the Free State of Puerto Rico, and delegates (delegates) from the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. ), these representatives assigned to the House of Representatives enjoy most of the powers of the House of Representatives, but cannot vote.

Management of elections Federal election laws provide for the management of election matters by the Federal Election Commission. The Federal Election Commission is composed of six people who are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The Federal Election Commission enforces federal election administration laws and prosecutes violations.

According to federal campaign law, any individual may not contribute more than $1,000 to the same candidate, $25,000 to all candidates, or more than $25,000 to the same political action committee in the same year. $5,000, and contributions to a national committee of the same political party may not exceed $20,000.

Any political action committee may not make more than $5,000 in contributions to the same candidate in one year. Contributions to the national committee of the same political party may not exceed $15,000. Donations cannot exceed $17,500. Although the law strictly controls campaign funds, there are still big loopholes in practice. Donors often avoid the constraints of the law by donating soft money (U.S. law has no limit on the amount of money that voters can donate to support a certain policy, but in fact a policy is likely to be a certain candidate) Advocacy, so donating money to support a policy is no different than supporting the candidate).

Each candidate must report donations and campaign expenses received to the Federal Election Commission 10 days before the election or 30 days after the election, including the names of all donors who gave more than $100, Communications Office and Careers.

Types of elections: elections are divided into general-year elections, mid-term elections and by-elections. The general election year election is the congressional election held every four years in the presidential election year. At that time, the presidential election and the congressional election are held at the same time; the midterm election refers to the congressional election held in the second year between two election years. A by-election is held when a vacancy is created when a member resigns, dies, or is expelled from the House of Representatives before his or her term of office has expired.

Among the 100 seats in the current Senate, the Republican Party holds 55 seats and the Democratic Party holds 45 seats. Of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 223 are held by the Republican Party, 211 by the Democratic Party, and 1 by an independent candidate.

There are 9 female members in the Senate and 58 female members in the House of Representatives.

The vast majority of members of Congress are male, white, well-educated, middle-aged, and come from middle- or upper-middle-income families. By occupation, lawyers are the largest group, accounting for more than 40% in the House of Representatives and more than 60% in the Senate; followed by entrepreneurs and bankers, with very few truly from labor unions or blue-collar congressmen.

Re-election The United States imposes a limit on re-election for two terms for the president, but does not impose any limit on the term of office of members. In fact, the re-election rate of U.S. congressmen is quite high. 92 members of the House of Representatives who ran for re-election were re-elected, and 75 of them were re-elected in the Senate. In an ordinary general election, members of the House of Representatives with 50 to 70 seats can be re-elected with almost no campaign effort.

The main reasons why incumbents can more easily be re-elected are: 1. They have more available resources than their opponents. You can give speeches on TV, radio, and rallies to let voters understand and become familiar with them (voters tend to be more inclined to vote for people they know well when voting); you can also send letters to voters through assistants to strengthen contact and let voters Remember; you can also use your position to benefit the constituency and make voters grateful. 2. Incumbents are more likely to receive campaign funding than their opponents.

Presidential election system in the United States

(1) Presidential election in the United States

According to the provisions of the U.S. Constitution, the United States implements a presidential system, and executive power belongs to the president. The powers of the head of state and head of government are concentrated in the president. The President is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The President is not accountable to Congress. The President is elected by general elections held every four years for a four-year term and may be reappointed once.

The process of the U.S. presidential election is long and complex, mainly including preselection, presidential candidate nomination, campaign, national election, Electoral College voting and the inauguration ceremony of the elected president.

The pre-selection phase usually kicks off in New Hampshire on the third Tuesday in February of an election year and ends in June. After that, the two major political parties of the United States, the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party, will elect representatives to participate in their party's national convention in most states across the country. In the few states that do not hold primaries, delegates are selected by bipartisan state committees or conventions. Because New Hampshire takes the lead in conducting preliminary elections, its election results have a great impact on other states.

The national conventions of the two major political parties in the United States are usually held in July and August respectively. At that time, state representatives participating in the convention will vote to select their party's presidential candidate, then adopt the vice presidential candidate nominated by the presidential candidate, and formally elect a campaign platform.

Assemblies often last several days, with hundreds of votes cast.

After the congress, the elected presidential candidates began a nationwide campaign to win votes for several months, including campaign trips to various states, extensive meetings with voters, television speeches, and TV debates etc. Presidential candidates spend huge sums of money and use various tactics to campaign.

U.S. law stipulates that in national elections, voters must go to a designated location to vote on the second Tuesday in November of the election year to choose between two presidential candidates. National elections are also voted on by the Electoral College. Since the presidential candidate with the most votes in a state wins all of that state's electoral votes, the election is generally a routine matter.

(2) How the Vice President of the United States was born

In American politics, the Vice President does not hold actual work. His official duties are as President of the Senate, but this is primarily ceremonial, as he only votes in the event of a tie in a Senate vote. The vice president's daily work is usually based on the president's requirements and is generally insignificant, such as attending the funerals of foreign leaders on behalf of the president.

According to the U.S. Constitution, if the president dies or becomes incapacitated, the vice president takes over the presidency. Becoming vice president is one of the ways to ascend to the presidency of the United States. Since World War II, three vice presidents have taken over the presidency during a presidential term. Truman succeeded as president because of Roosevelt's death, Johnson because of Kennedy's assassination, and Ford because of Nixon's resignation. In addition, several vice presidents have served as presidential candidates, including Nixon, Humphrey, Mondale and Bush.

The Vice President of the United States is not directly elected by the American public, but is selected by the presidential candidates of the Democratic and Democratic parties and elected by the national conventions of the two parties. When selecting a vice-presidential candidate, presidential candidates must first consider the person's political qualifications and conditions, but mainly look at which part of the force he represents within the party in order to achieve a balance and win the support of the greatest number of voters as much as possible.

But the outcome of the election does not depend on the presidential candidate's choice of vice president; During the 1988 U.S. election, many Americans believed that Republican presidential candidate Bush's running mate Quayle was too young, immature, and unworthy of consideration, while they believed that Democratic presidential candidate Dukakis's running mate Bentson Rich experience and well-respected. But as a result of the election, Bush won and became president, and Quayle naturally became vice president.

Vice presidential candidates are usually members of Congress, but senators have a greater chance of being selected as vice presidential candidates. The reason is that once a senator is elected vice president, he serves as president of the Senate, which strengthens the president's ties to the Senate.

(3) Pre-selection stage of the U.S. presidential election

The pre-selection is the primary election, which is the first stage of the U.S. presidential election. The pre-selection period usually runs from February to June. At this stage, the main task is to elect representatives to participate in the national congress of each party. The presidential candidate of each party is finally selected at the party's national congress.

Currently, most states in the United States implement direct primaries, in which voters directly select representatives to participate in the party's national convention through voting. Voters can also directly express their opinions on presidential candidates. Because the delegates to the national convention clearly indicate which presidential candidate they support, the voting results will provide a clear indication of the support rate of each presidential candidate. This is the kind of primary election held in New Hampshire on February 1 this year.

Another form of pre-selection is called "cadre meeting" (or "grassroots meeting"). The two parties hold grassroots party meetings at each election point in a state, where voters who support the party vote on the spot. Express support for the party's presidential candidate and select representatives to attend county-level representative meetings. The county convention then elects delegates to the state convention, which elects delegates to the national convention, which ultimately decides the party's presidential candidate. This is the primary election held in Iowa on January 24th.

Iowa was the first state in the country to hold a party convention, and New Hampshire was the first state to hold direct primaries.

The preliminary elections in the two states serve as a "weather vane" and "barometer." The election results will affect subsequent preliminary elections in other states, and are therefore crucial to the success or failure of candidates.

Preliminary activities in each state, whether in the form of preliminary elections or caucuses, generally only allow voters who clearly indicate that they are Democrats or Republicans and do not clarify their party positions to participate. voters cannot participate. Even among the former group of voters, only a small portion actually participated.

(4) The distinction between term, term, and position of the U.S. President

U.S. elections often involve the three different meanings of “term,” “term,” and “position” of the U.S. President concept.

As for "term", the U.S. Constitution stipulates that presidential elections are held every four years, and a presidential term lasts four years. If the president fails to serve for any reason during his term and is replaced by another person, the two presidents will be the same president.

About "term", it refers to the number of times he has served as president. A person can hold the office of president for several terms, but he still has one term. However, if a person is elected several times in several non-consecutive presidential elections, the number of times he is elected counts as several terms.

About "position", it refers to the actual number of people who have served as president. Since the United States began to elect presidents, whether they are re-elected or elected several times, the number of presidents will be counted without double counting.

After this calculation, Bill Clinton is the 52nd, 42nd and 41st President of the United States.