Introduction
When the presidential election of the United States, the most powerful country in the world, comes, there is an election atmosphere all over the world. Many of those who have no connection to the United States are also looking at the results of this election. But the US presidential election system is very different from any other country in the world; Not only this, this election system is so complicated that even many citizens of the United States do not have a clear idea of how the president of the United States is actually elected.
The President of the United States is not directly elected by the people. The President of the United States is elected by indirect popular vote through a complex process called the Electoral College. Because of this complex system, many times a candidate does not win the presidency even if he gets the most votes from the people. .Before knowing about the presidential election system of the United States, you must know about the United States legislature or parliament
United States legislature or parliament
The US Parliament is called congress. Congress is essentially a bicameral legislature. The lower house of Congress is called the House of Representatives and the upper house is called the Senate. The lower house of Representatives has 435 members and the upper house Senate has 100 members. A total of 535 members of Congress are known as Congressmen. However, the members of the upper house of the Senate are called separately as senators. The ex-officio Vice President of the United States serves as President of the Senate. After four years in the United States, the issue of choosing a presidential candidate prevails, but this election also elects members of Congress. The term of the House of Representatives or representative members is two years. Hence elections to the lower house are held every two years. On the other hand, the term of the members of the set is six years. However, the election of Senate members is held in three phases. Therefore, one-third of the seats in the Senate are elected after two years. Two senators are elected from each of the 50 US states. That is why the number of senators of Congress is 100 people. The members of the Electoral College are the most powerful people in the election of the President of the United States. Because they basically elect the president. The members of the Electoral College are called Electors. To put it simply, the people of the United States elect the Electors by voting. After that, the President is elected by direct vote of the Electoral College composed of electors, mainly members of Congress considered as members of the Electoral College. The total number of members of Congress is 535 in the upper house and lower house of the United States Parliament. Along with this, the US capital Washington DC or the District of Columbia has its own three votes. Electoral college was formed with 538 members. The candidate who receives the majority of votes from these 538 people becomes the President of the United States. A candidate must receive a minimum of 270 electoral votes to become president. The higher the night’s population, the higher the number of top electoral votes. The most popular state in the United States is California So this state has a maximum of 55 electoral votes. However, one of the most controversial issues of electoral votes is the WINNER TAKE ALL system.
How the president is elected?
To put it simply, suppose a Democratic party in the state of California received 30 votes. A Republican party received 25 votes. Since the Democratic Party has won, not just 30 votes but 55 votes will be considered to have been won by the Democratic Party. This is called the winner take call method. Due to the winner take all method, the issue of Electoral College in US presidential elections is very controversial. As complicated as the US election system is, it is quite a long-term process. Only then the timing of what will happen in the election process is fixed in advance. Since the election process is going on almost throughout the year, the year in which the election is held
Election year Marking the beginning of an election, the political parties in the United States begin the process of selecting their candidates. Then when the selection of candidates is done, the main rivals start to influence it by doing it among themselves. The United States presidential election is held on the Tuesday following the first Monday of November. This election is called the popular vote. The candidate who receives the most votes in the popular vote is not elected as president. The Electoral College is made up of the members of Congress who are elected by popular vote. The candidate who wins through the members of this Electoral College is the next marking president. Usually in the election or the day after the election, it is understood who is going to be the president of the United States America , the results of this popular vote were published after several days. Because many voters in the United States vote by mail through postal ballots, it takes a long time to count them. In the 2016 election, 23 percent of voters voted by mail, and in 2020, 46 percent voted by mail. Members of the Electoral College cast their electoral votes in their respective state capitals on the first Tuesday of the second Wednesday in December of the popular vote. It is through this vote that the President and Vice President of the United States are elected. In the past, the person who received the second highest number of votes was elected as the Vice President. But later a separate ballot was created for the vice president Electoral College votes must be sent to the President of the Senate and the Archivist of the United States by the fourth Wednesday in December. January 3 Newly elected members appear in Congress. And on January 6 the electoral votes are counted in Congress. After the votes are counted, the President of the Senate announces the final names for the next US President and Vice President. The newly elected president is then given some time to form his cabinet. Then the new president of the United States is sworn in on January 20.
Differences between The Popular Vote and Electoral Vote
Electoral votes have more power than the general public vote in US elections. For this reason, US presidential candidates mainly fight to win these electoral votes. A person who loses the popular vote can win the Electoral College vote and become president. So far a total of 5 such incidents have occurred. There are examples of such incidents in two houses of the last 5 times. In the 2016 election, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton won 300,000 more popular votes than Republican candidate Donald Trump. Donald Trump subsequently won the electoral vote due to Wiener’s approach.
Conclusion
The 2024 United States presidential election will be held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. The result will determine many things such as wars in Ukraine and Gaza, future politics, etc. And as you know the two prime candidates for the president position are Kamala Harris from the Democratic Party and Donald Trump from Republican Party. Let’s see who wins the US President Election 2024