Break Down: The process of presidential voting
Voting in the United States can be a lengthy process, with much hidden or not understood by the citizens, causing distrust and divide between opposing parties.
In America there are different political parties that individuals identify themselves as, the two main parties in the United States are Republican and Democrat. There are other parties in the presidential election such as Reform, Liberian, Socialist, Natural Law, Constitution and Green Parties.
Every four years each party elects a running candidate, this year for two major political a party their running candidates are former vice president Joe Biden for the Democrat party and President Donald Trump for Republican Party. The parties choose their candidate by holding primaries or caucuses in each America’s state, which are held between January and June.
Finally is the presidential election, which is always held on the first Tuesday of November. The president is elected by the Electoral College, not by the majority votes of people in America.
What is the Electoral College? Each state has a different number of electoral votes based on its population. In America there are a total of 538 electoral votes possible, each elector represents one electoral vote. For example, South Carolina has a total of nine electoral votes while California has 55 electoral votes.
Generally, when a candidate wins the popular vote in a state, they also win all the electoral votes for that state.
For example, in this year's election, Trump won the popular vote in South Carolina, so he won all nine electoral votes in the state.
The first candidate to win enough states to get 270 electoral votes becomes the president.
How is the Electoral College comprised?
The electors can’t be a member of Congress or hold a federal office. Today, the most common method of choosing electors is by the state party convention.
Each political party’s state convention nominates a slate of electors, and a vote is held at the convention. In a smaller number of states, electors are chosen by a vote of the state party’s central committee.
On the presidential election day, when Americans vote for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates of a political party, they are actually voting for the slate of electors who have pledged to cast their votes for that party.
Then, the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December, members of the Electoral College meet in their respective states and cast their official votes for president and vice president.
The Constitution doesn’t require electors to vote according to the result of the popular vote in their states, but in 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not require that people elected to serve in the Electoral College be free to vote as they choose. Instead, the Court held, states have the constitutional power to force electors to vote according to their state’s popular vote.
