Il electoral system from the United States presidential electionswhich will lead to starting from November 5, 2024 to the victory of Donald Trump o Kamala Harrisis characterized byindirect election: citizens elect the so-called big voters in each of the 50 states into which the USA is divided and in the District of Columbia (the capital territory of Washington DC); the electors in turn they elect the president. Each state elects a number of electors equal to the number of deputies and senators it has in Congress, for a total of 538. Almost all states are in force pure majoritarian system: the candidate who obtains the relative majority wins all the electors up for grabs. Another peculiarity of the American system is that theelection day falls on a Tuesday: it is a choice dating back to the first half of the nineteenth century, when the majority of the population worked in agriculture.
Some premises for the US elections: federalism, bipartisanship and primaries
To understand the mechanism of the election of the president of the United States, one must keep in mind that the country is divided into fifty stateseach of which can choose its own electoral law. Furthermore, the US political system is, by tradition, bipartisan: only two parties, that one democratic and that Republicancompete for the favor of the electorate. This does not mean that other political forces cannot present themselves in the elections, but the game to elect the president and other important positions is always played between the two major parties. Democrats and Republicans present a “ticket” composed of a presidential candidate and a vice-president candidate, chosen in the previous months with specific procedures primary elections.
2016 election ballot
The United States electoral system: the electors
The election of the president of the United States is at two levels: citizens elect the “electors”, i.e. people designated by the parties before the elections; the electors in turn vote to elect the president. Each state in the Union elects a number of electors equal to the number of delegates it expresses at the Congress (consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives); three others are elected by the citizens of District of Columbia. After the elections, the electors gather in each state to cast their votes. The preferences are then summed at the national level; the candidate who obtains an absolute majority becomes president.
In theory, the electors they have no mandate bond and they can vote for a president other than the one by whom they were nominated. This eventuality, however, happened very few times and never had any effect on the final result.
Currently the big voters are 538 and for a Republican or Democratic president to be elected, the corresponding party must win at least one 270. The State that elects the largest number is the Californiawith 54; the less populous states and the District of Columbia elect only three.
Voters in each constituency for the 2024 elections
To elect the electors, the pure majoritarian system is in force in 48 states: the candidate who obtains the relative majority, even by just one vote, gains all the seats up for grabs. It is the principle called winner take all (winner takes all). Only in two states, Nebraska and Maine, is the mechanism mixed majoritarian/proportional and the candidate who wins does not gain all the electors.
The critical issues of the US electoral system
The American electoral system is the subject of some criticisms. First of all, due to the pure majority, it does not guarantee that the president who obtains the greatest number of votes overall will be elected. In fact, it may happen that a candidate obtains more votes from citizens, but a lower number of electors. So far this eventuality has occurred five times, the last of which in 2016, when Donald Trump defeated his opponent, Hillary Clinton, despite having obtained approximately three million fewer votes from citizens.
Furthermore, not all votes have the same weight. As we have seen, the system provides that each State elects a number of electors equal to the number of representatives it has in Congress, including both senators, who are 100 in total, and representatives in the House, who are 435 (to which are added the three from the District of Columbia). The problem is that, while the number of representatives of each state is proportional to the number of inhabitants, the number of senators is equal to two for all states, regardless of population. It follows that, both in Congress and in presidential elections, the “weight” of the voters of the less populous states it is greater than that of states with more inhabitants.
American states by population (credits Abbasi786786)
Because in the United States we vote on Tuesday
A peculiarity of American presidential elections is that they are held in… Tuesday (the same day, on which the other national elections and the primaries of almost all states take place). More precisely, the presidential elections take place on Tuesday following the first Monday of November. The peculiarity explains why the day was chosen in 1845when much of the US population worked in agriculture and was very religious. Sunday could not be chosen, because it was dedicated to liturgical celebrations, nor Monday, because for many citizens it would have meant traveling on Sunday (to go to vote, some voters had to make long carriage journeys). Furthermore, it would have been impossible to choose Wednesday, the day on which agricultural product markets took place in many areas of the country. The choice therefore fell on Tuesday. When the United States ceased to be a predominantly agricultural country, the day was confirmed out of respect for tradition. Also the decision of vote in November it was taken for reasons related to agriculture: it is in fact a month in which work in the fields is reduced.
Harvest in the United States in 1884
Early voting
Not all Americans vote on Election Day. In fact, most states in the Union allow early voting: that is, citizens can vote in the days preceding theelection day. Operations begin, depending on the country, a few days or a few weeks in advance. In most cases, the early vote is cast by post.
