Mumbai: Unlike the US Presidential elections, the beauty of our Indian electoral system is that people directly elect who rules their state and the country. In the US, the voters do not directly elect their President, instead it is the Electoral College members through their vote decide the fate of the Presidential candidate. Here we shall take a look at how the US Presidential electoral system works.
In the US, when Americans cast their ballot for Presidential candidates, their votes actually go towards selecting members of the Electoral College, whom each state appoints based on the popular returns. The states have devised mechanisms to ensure that the electors they appoint vote for the presidential candidate their citizens have preferred.
In US Presidential election system, the Electoral College comprises of members whom voters of each state and District of Columbia, vote as Electors who are authorised constitutional members in presidential elections. Each state is allocated a certain number of Electors equal to the number of its US Senators (always 2) plus the number of its US Representatives (which may change each decade according to the size of each states population as determined in the Census. Members of the Congress and employees of the Federal government are prohibited from serving as an Elector.
The Electoral College system of voting is somewhat similar to the Electoral College that comprises of elected MLAs from state Assemblies in India that vote in the election to the President of India, and the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha MP’s in the election to the Vice President of India.
Out of the 538 Electoral College votes, the winning US presidential candidate needs to secure 270 or more votes to win the presidential race. In the Electoral College system, each state gets a certain number of Electors based on its representation in the Congress. Each Elector casts one vote following the general election, and the candidate who gets more than half (270 votes) wins.
The US Presidential election process is a bit long drawn four stage process that begins in the fourth year of any Presidency. The basic minimum criteria for contesting US presidential elections is – should be natural born US citizen, minimum age 35 years and should be resident of a state for at least 14 years.
The first step in the US Presidential elections begins with the Primaries and Caucuses. Primaries are where party members vote for the best candidate who will represent them in the general elections. The winning candidate sends delegates to the national party convention as their party’s US presidential nominee. A Delegate is a person authorised to represent others as an elected representative to a political party convention.
Caucuses are meeting of the local members of a political party to select delegates to the national party convention. A Caucus is a substitute for Primary election.
The scene then shifts to step two, which is the National Conventions of the political parties (Democrats and Republicans). Even Independents can contest the elections. At the party National Convention the Presidential candidate chooses a running mate (Vice Presidential candidate).
In step three, people across every state in the US vote for one President and Vice Presidential candidate. Under the US presidential system, when people cast their vote, they actually are voting for a group of people called Electors. This voting is usually held on the Tuesday, following the first Monday in November. The people in each state cast their ballots for the party slate of Electors representing their choice for President and Vice President.
It is here that the US Supreme Court judgment of July 6 in the Chiafalo – vs – Washington case comes into play. The US apex court has upheld the law in some states which fines Electors for failing their pledge to vote for their party candidate and instead vote for another candidate. The law now applicable all over the US, provides for a fine of $1,000 for each elector and also provides for the substitution of such a rebel voter by another.
In short what happened in 2016 during the presidential election between Donald J Trump (Republican) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (Democrat) will not be allowed to happen again. In 2016, three Democrat voters Peter Chiafalo, Levi Guerra and Esther John had defied their pledge and voted for an Independent candidate, thus paving the way for victory of Donald Trump.
Whichever party slate wins the most popular votes in the state becomes that states Electors-so that in effect, whichever Presidential ticket gets the most popular votes in a state wins all the Electors of that state. In other words it is said that the Presidential candidate sweeps that particular state.
After the people have voted their choice, in step four, it is the Electors appointed by the respective parties having a collective vote value of 538, vote to elect the President and Vice President. Each Elector gets to cast one vote, and the candidate who gets more than half of 270 votes or more wins the Presidential election.
This voting takes place on Monday, following second Wednesday of December. Each states Elector meet in their respective state capitals and cast their electoral votes – one for the President and one for the Vice President.
In the case of a tie or no clear majority, the US House of Representative selects President from among top three contenders with each state casting only one vote and an absolute majority of the states being required to elect. In the case of a no clear majority for Vice President, it is the US Senate makes the selection from among the top two contenders for that office. As is the laid down practice, the newly elected President and Vice President are inaugurated in January.
