US Election process: All you need to know

The election process of the most crucial US Presidential poll can be divided into five parts-Primaries and Caucuses, National Convention, General Election, Electoral college and Inauguration.

New Delhi:The United States of America is all set to go for polls on Tuesday. The presidential election of the most powerful democracy is looked up worldwide. This year, President Donald Trump is seeking re-election for a second term from the Republican ticket while the Democrats have announced Joe Biden as its Presidential candidate. Here is the election process of the United States.

Speaking exclusively with ETV Bharat, former Indian ambassador Gautam Bambawale said that it is very essential to understand that the American electoral system is quite different from that of India. In India, the system is very similar to that of the UK which is called ‘ the-first-past-the post system’, whoever gets the maximum votes in a particular constituency wins the election. In the United States, the system is slightly different. Apart from the popular vote, there is also something called the ‘Electoral college’ which is crucial.

Read:|Explained: US electoral system

The US Elections happen once in 4 years. On the first Tuesday in November, every 4 years is when the US Election takes place. It is over 9-10 months that the elections happen to start from February/March. Candidates must go through a series of processes during the US Presidential election.

The election process can be divided into few parts:

Primaries and Caucuses

Many people want to be President, each with their ideas about how the government should work. People with similar ideas belong to the same political party. This is where primaries and caucuses come in. Candidates from each political party campaign through the country to win the favour of their party members.

Beginning in February the main voting events Primaries and Caucuses will lead to a selection of delegates who will represent the people at the upcoming conventions. In a Caucus, Party members select the best candidate through a series of discussions and votes. In the case of Primary, Party members vote for the best candidate that will represent them in the general election.

National Conventions

Secondly, each party holds a national convention to select a final presidential nominee. State delegates from the primaries and caucuses selected to represent the people “endorse” their favourite candidates and the final presidential nominee from each party is officially announced at the end of the conventions. The presidential candidate also chooses a running mate (Vice Presidential candidate). This year, US Senator Kamala Harris has been nominated as Democratic vice presidential candidate for US elections 2020 at the Democratic National Convention held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.

General Election

Thirdly, People in every state across the country vote for one President and Vice President. When Americans will go to polls on 3rd November, they will select their most preferred presidential candidate and their running mate.

Pertinently, when people cast their vote, they are voting for a group of people called electors. Except in the states of Maine and Nebraska, if a candidate receives the majority of the votes from the people of a state then the candidate will receive all electoral votes of that state. The presidential nominee with the most electoral votes becomes the President of the United States.

Electoral college

The most important and crucial step in the US presidential election is the ‘Electoral college’. The Electoral college is a process in which electors or representatives from each state in number proportional to the state’s population cast their vote and determine who will be president.

Each state gets a certain number of electors based on its representation in Congress (Senate, House of Representatives). There are a total of 538 electors selected according to each state’s policy. Each elector casts one vote following the general election, and the candidate who gets more than half (270) wins.

“In the United States, it is not sufficient for a presidential candidate to just get more votes than the other candidate. For instance, in the year 2016, Hillary Clinton had got more ‘popular votes’ than Donald Trump. But Clinton won those votes only in a certain number of states and lost to President Trump in many other states. Overall, even if she had more votes, she was not able to carry the electoral college. In the US electoral system, the candidates must win a certain amount of votes in every state of the US”, former ambassador Bambawale explained.

In the US electoral system, one can cast a ballot one month before the voting day. This Presidential election, around 75 million people has already cast their votes and on Tuesday, an unprecedented number of voters are expected to be seen voting than the previous rounds, he pointed out.

Experts believe that things get tricky during Electoral College as despite a party winning maximum states on the Voting Day might vote to lose in the Electoral college.

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