Learn about the presidential election process, including the body, caucuses and primaries, and therefore the national conventions.
Overview of the Presidential Election Process
An election for president of US happens every four years on the primary Tuesday after the primary Monday in November. The subsequent presidential election is going to be November 3, 2020.
Electoral College
In other U.S. elections, candidates are elected directly by popular vote. But the president and vice-chairman aren’t elected directly by citizens. Instead, they’re chosen by “electors” through a process called the body.
The process of using electors comes from the Constitution. it had been a compromise between a well-liked vote by citizens and a choose Congress.
Presidential Primaries and Caucuses
Before the overall election, most candidates for president undergo a series of state primaries and caucuses. Though primaries and caucuses are run differently, they both serve an equivalent purpose. They let the states choose the main political parties’ nominees for the overall election.
Candidates from each party campaign throughout the country to win the favour of their party members.
- Caucus: during a caucus, party members select the simplest candidate through a series of discussions and votes.
- Primary: during a primary, party members vote for the simplest candidate which will represent them within the election.
U.S. Constitutional Requirements for Presidential Candidates
The president must:-
– Be a natural-born citizen of the US
– Be a minimum of 35 years old
– are a resident of the US for 14 years
Anyone who meets these requirements can declare their candidacy for president. Once a candidate raises or spends quite $5,000 for his or her campaign, they need to register with the Federal committee. that has to name a principal campaign committee to boost and spend campaign funds.
National Conventions
After the primaries and caucuses, most political parties hold national conventions.
Conventions finalize a party’s choice for presidential and vice-presidential nominees.
To become the presidential nominee, a candidate typically has got to win a majority of delegates. This usually happens through the party’s primaries and caucuses. It’s then confirmed through a vote of the delegates at the national convention.
But if no candidate gets the bulk of a party’s delegates during the primaries and caucuses, convention delegates choose the nominee. This happens through additional rounds of voting.
There are two main sorts of delegates:–
Pledged, or bound delegates must support the candidate they were awarded to through the first or caucus process.
Unpledged delegates or superdelegates can support any presidential candidate they choose.