SUMMARY
I. The designation of the presidential candidates by the political parties
A. The choice of the delegates to the parties' national conventions
1. The primaries
2. The caucuses
B. The parties’ national conventions and the choice of the candidate to the presidential election
C. The electoral campaign
II. The Electoral College's forming and the election of the presidential ticket
A. The election of the presidential electors: participation of political parties and citizens
B. The election of the presidential ticket by the Electoral College
III. The finance of the electoral system in the frame of the federal elections
A. A legal frame: before and after 1974
B. The actors of the finance
C. A controversial system of finance
INTRODUCTION
The particularity of the United States of America consists in the fact that, contrary to the usual idea we have of democracy, the President and the Vice-President of the State are elected indirectly. There is an overall of both federal and state laws in the organization of the elections.
The Article II of the United States Constitution drew the method of presidential election including the role of the citizens and the Electoral College. This article was the result of long negotiations destined to find a compromise between those who wanted the Congress to choose the president and those who preferred a national vote by the citizens.
The held of elections is fixed at intervals that cannot be changed. Whatever the country is in war or in crisis, the calendar of the election will be maintained. That is what ensures the sustainability of the American electoral system.
The run for presidency is divided in two parts, more precisely in two campaigns: those in the media and those as the formal election. The aim is to seek a leader within the political parties and then to ensure him to gain enough votes to win a majority in order to access to the Electoral College.
So what are the modalities of the actual American electoral system?
We are going to show the complexity of this electoral system in three parts: the designation of the president candidates (I), the forming of the Electoral College and the election of the President pair (II) and finally the finance of the electoral campaign (III).
I. The designation of the presidential candidates by the political parties
A. The choice of the delegates to the parties’ national conventions
It’s the first stage of the election of the president of the USA. This stage is usually held in the first semester of the election year.
During this period, in each of the 50 States, the delegates to the parties’ national conventions are designated. Each political party elects its delegates in each State of the USA with the system it chose. There are two different systems: either the primary or the caucus.
The number of delegates is decided by the political party.
1. The primaries
The rules concerning the primaries are varying from State to State and also from political party to political party. Even sometimes, it would differ from one election to another.
Concerning the system used during primaries we can distinguish two major systems.
The first one consists in voters who elect delegates who have indicated a particular candidate they want to vote for.
The second one consists in electing delegates who will be legally bound to vote for the candidate who will have the biggest support in their congressional district.
Concerning the persons allowed to vote at these primaries, we can also distinguish two major systems.
The first one is called the closed primaries system. It consists in allowing only the party members to elect delegates.
The second one is called the open primaries system. This system does not require voters to be official members of the political party that organizes the primary election. This system also knows lots of alternatives. For example, at some open primaries voters have to recognize publically their belonging to the party and to certify on their honor to vote for the future party’s candidate at the federal election.
The system of the primary election is the most used in the USA because it tends to democratize the intern life of political parties. Moreover, this system serves to rank the candidates within one political party and thus to see which on is most likely to win the presidential election.
This system is often used by the two major political parties of the US, which are the Democrat Party and the Republican Party. However, the rates of participation at these primaries are not very high.
2. The caucuses
It’s the most complex system of designation of the delegates because it has several levels of election of the delegates.
The first election is done at the level of the precinct. Then the second election is done at the level of the county. After that, a third election is held at the level of the congressional district. Finally, the commission of the congressional district has to choose the delegates who will be going to the party’s national conventions.
Most of the time, in the caucuses, it’s the proportional representation that is used.
B. The parties’ national conventions and the choice of the candidate to the presidential election
Traditionally, those conventions are held by both major parties during the summer and last four days. During these conventions, each party agrees upon their final nominee. However, because of the primary election system, the winner is known before the convention is held.
This is the reason for which we can wonder if those conventions are really needed. In fact, there are three official main points on the agenda of the conventions. In the first place, the party has to adopt its electoral platform. Secondly, it has to adopt the modifications to its own constitution. Last, it has to elect the candidate to the presidential and also the vice-president.
It’s the candidate to the presidency who selects the possible vice-president and the convention has to approve his or her choice. However, the party would try to balance the ticket, meaning balance the duo of the president and of the vice-president, in a geographical, religious and ideological manner.
We have to notice that the electorate is not very interested in these conventions any more. In fact we can see two main reasons at this fact: there is no more suspense in the designation of the candidate to the presidency and the specialized channels that retransmit the conventions are not free. Moreover since 1992, the political observers qualify the conventions of informercials meaning infopub because since the beginning of the television, each second of the conventions are fully regulated.
However the conventions are still useful in the sense that they serve to stimulate the electorate in the perspective of the long electoral campaign of the autumn.
C. The electoral campaign
From the Labor Day, which takes place on the first Monday of September, to the day prior the election day the candidates cross the country several times to do their campaign. However, they usually dedicate more time to the most densely populated because they are more represented within the Electoral College.
The candidates have different standard speeches for each particular group as for example young women, workers, businessmen or farmers. They repeat the same things during their all campaign but they usually keep time at the end of the afternoon for new things. Indeed, by doing that, they may be able to be on the TV news of the day.
TV plays a major role in the presidential campaign by many ways. First, they retransmit electoral ads of the candidates or of the political parties. Second, since 1976 each campaign has its televised debate. Since 1992, some of these debates are in fact a forum in which candidates answer to the questions of the audience.
In 1987, a commission on presidential debates has been created. It serves to organize the debates and apportion the speaking time between candidates. It also fixes a minimum of speaking time to the third most important candidate.
We have to mention that a president who is also a candidate to the next presidential election has certain advantages over the other candidates. Indeed, as in France, a president can announce popular measures or take decisions that would influence his popularity rating. Moreover, he can enjoy a great cover of the media because of his presidential position.
II. The Electoral College’s forming and the election of the presidential ticket
The USA presidential electoral system is known as one of the most complex in the world. Indeed, there are fifty different electoral laws only for the presidential election.
The President of the United States of America is elected by the indirect universal suffrage through an Electoral College. Each State has as many representatives in the Electoral College as it has in the Congress except. There are 538 Presidential Electors within the Electoral College.
In consequence, we can say that the President of the United States is elected in two stages: the citizens first vote for the presidential electors who compose the Electoral College. Second, the presidential electors elect the President of the United States.
So, we are going to see first the first stage and then the second stage.
A. The election of the presidential electors: participation of the political parties and citizens
First, we have to talk about the formation of the electoral lists to the Electoral College.
The presidential electors who appear on the electoral lists are recruited by the political party concerned. Most of the time, presidential electors are unknown by the people but have served the party for numerous years. In fact, it’s a way for the party to thanks politically devoted people.
Second, let’s talk about the participation of the citizens to the election of the presidential electors.
In the USA, there are no permanent registers of voters like in France. Indeed, for each election, each citizen has to take the time to register as voter of the State. This registration can be done in public places such as Justice Court. This system has a bad effect on participations rates to the election. In consequence, in 1993 the Congress voted a law called “Motor Voter Law” which aims to increase the registration on electoral registers. For instance, it requires States facilitate the electoral registration in common places such as post offices or via the Internet.
Moreover, each State has its own requirements to the exercise of the franchise. For instance, some States requires a certain time of living in the concerned State but considering the high mobility of American people this requirement can prevent lots of citizens from voting. In consequence, since 1972, the required period of living in a particular State has been reduced to thirty days for the presidential election.
Finally, we have to talk about the Election Day, which takes place on the first Tuesday following the first Monday of November. This date can be explain by American agrarian history.
At this stage, Americans vote for a fixed list of Presidential Electors mainly choosing between the Democratic and the Republican list. This stage is named “the Popular Vote” whereas the second step is named “The Electoral Vote”.
To determine which candidate has won, the principle of the “winner-take-all” is used. According to this principle, any candidate who wins a majority of electors in a State will collect all the electors of that State. Thus, this principle does not really reflect the voter opinion because sometimes the majority can be very narrow. For example, in 1980 Reagan was elected with 91% of the electoral vote but with only 51% of the popular vote.
B. The election of the presidential ticket by the Electoral College
This consists in the final step of the presidential election. In December, the Presidential Electors meet in Washington to elect the presidential ticket meaning the President and Vice-President.
In 24 States and in the District of Columbia, Presidential Electors are obliged to vote for the candidate who has obtained the more votes in their State. In the 26 other States, Presidential Electors can vote for the candidate they want, even if most of the time they respect the popular vote.
However, sometimes, Presidential Electors don’t take in account the popular vote. It has happened about 12 times since 1789. People who want a change of the type of suffrage or the entire erasing of the Electoral College often take this fact as an argument to their cause.
However, this meeting is mere a formality than a real vote because the results are known thanks to the November election.
On January the 6th, the Senate proceeds to the counting of the votes of the Electoral College. At this stage, if no candidate has obtained the required majority, it would be the Congress that would elect the President and the Vice-President.
The elected President is sworn into office on January 20th of the following year at midday accordingly to the XXth amendment. During the Inauguration ceremony, the President gives his Inaugural Address, which is a speech. Moreover, it takes an oath upon the Bible, which goes like that: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”.
III. The finance of the electoral system in the frame of the federal elections
The complexity that characterizes the election of a President is not the only issue raised by the US electoral system. In fact, we have to wonder what is the cost to become President of the most powerful state of the world. Many economists, historians and politicians agree to say that money is the biggest problem of the whole political system. That's why, in order to stem corruption during the presidential elections, the American legislator decided to develop a body of rules that frame their finance.
A. A legal frame: before and after 1974
During the 1970's, the American Congress took the huge decision to democratize the finance of all the elections in the United States to avoid embezzlements within the political parties and the caucuses and during the different electoral campaigns. The first step resided in the adoption of the Federal Election Act of 1971 that required candidates to disclose their sources of campaign and campaign expenditures. We must underline that until 1974 there was no limit to the expenses engaged by a candidate who ran for presidency during the primaries or during his campaign. 1974 constituted the turning point of the modalities of the campaign finance. In fact the limitation of campaign contributions banned direct contributing to campaigns by corporations and trades unions and put the boundary of $1, 000 for each individual donation. Moreover the 1974 amendment established a Federal Election Commission which had the mission to administer and enforce campaign finance law.
The following laws of 1976 added further rules to the finance of electoral campaigns and provided that the presidential campaigns will now be financed entirely by public funds whereas the primaries and the parties committees will be financed by private funds and funds of the State. Of course candidates found means to get out of this rules, means which have been partially consecrated by different judgements of the Supreme Court. Thus in 1979 an amendment to the Federal Election allowed political parties to spend without limit on get-out-the-vote and voter registration activities conducted primarily for a presidential candidate. The use of unregulated and unlimited contributions was also permitted to the finance of the electoral system.
A code governing the expenses of the candidates and the sleeping partners was created. But the setting of this code could not prevent the emergence of a phenomenon called “soft money”. The appellation “soft money” defined the money that comes from an individual or an organization and that is not directly invested in the campaign but spent in candidate specific advertising or others efforts. This finance is used to support a candidate but it is not legally coordinated to the official campaign. In opposition the expression “hard money” referred to the money which contributes directly to a campaign by an individual or an organization and which is ruled by the Federal Election Commission.
The code of the Federal Election Commission specified the several actors of the finance of the electoral system and the modalities related to each contributor.
B. The actors of the finance
The electoral campaigns are opened to various contributors who haven't got the same rights or possibilities of finance. It is important to define their role in order to understand the whole finance of the electoral system. We must emphasize that a candidate can't invest more than $50, 000 of his private fortune during the campaign. A part of the finance come from contributions given by individuals. Individual's contributions are attributed to one or several candidates and are capped to $1, 000 per election. Each primary and each party committee is considered as an individual election. The individual has no right to directly give money for the presidential election which belongs to the federal field (excepted when a candidate refuses this federal funds). The individual's funds are limited to $25, 000 per year for the federal elections. How are this contributions divided? They included contributions to candidates, to political parties committees and to political parties. All this contributions given during an electoral campaign are controlled by the Federal Election Commission and in contrary to the phenomenon of “soft money” they are qualified of “hard money”. Of course, it will be a mistake to consider that individuals didn't found means to skirt this legal frame.
Another part of the finance hail from companies' contributions. According to the legislation this companies which have a legal status can't abet to the finance of a candidate. They ought to pool to political action committees which support candidates. The legal status of this companies is used to establish the amount of contributions to the national party committees and the candidates (we again mention the legal frame of “hard money”). Year after year the phenomenon of “soft money” grew and constituted a heavy problem within the electoral system. In fact, as individuals, companies found others ways to increase their indirect contributions and thus to enhance their influence.
The State is the last contributor to the finance of electoral campaigns. Each candidate has the possibility to get federal public funds (called “matching funds”) in additional to an equal quantity of private funds. Many modalities rule this grant of public federal funds. Thus a candidate has to collect at least $5, 000 in twenty different states to obtain this support. This $5, 000 ought to result from contributions equal or lower than $250 per individual. This public funds administered by the Federal Election Commission come from the taxpayer who gives, only if he wants, $3 to the federal state. The achieved money is used to finance a part of candidates' expenses during the primaries or during the presidential campaign. A candidate can refuse the federal funds and decide to use his own funds. Then he will be free to spend the sum he wanted during his campaign. As an example, in 1992, Ross Perot chose to finance his whole campaign alone with his private fortune and was then free to expend as he wanted. ,Furthermore, during the primaries of 2000, George W. Bush refused the matching funds and thus followed his own rules of finance.
C. A controversial system of finance
In the United States we always talk about a bipartite system embodied by the Republicans and the Democrats and this phenomenon is clearly enhanced by the public finance of the presidential system. American specialists of the electoral system often criticize this finance because it totally forgets the smaller parties. The electoral system and its finance seem to have been created to prevent the emergence of other parties. In fact, to represent his party at an election a candidate must satisfy to many modalities set up by the legislator such as the existence of a petition signed by thousand people who support the candidate. Moreover, a candidate of a party out of the majority will receive public funds only after his election contrary to a candidate who belongs to the two major parties and who receives matching funds from the primaries. This candidate is fairly disadvantaged.
We also must to underline the problem raised by the use of “soft money” during the election campaign. Most of this contributions are frequently accused to come from illegal practises which are near from a certain form of corruption within the electoral system. Occult committees, rich businessmen and pressure groups try to increase their power and their influence during the electoral campaigns. Important flows of money and transactions are realised in parallel of the elections. Money took a too huge proportion in the American electoral system that conduct to abuses and management issues.
CONCLUSION
To conclude, many Americans agree the fact that their electoral system and its modalities should be reformed. The complexity of the procedure that consist in the election of Great Electors who have also to elect the President and the Vice President is highly contested. If we consider democracy as the election of a president by the people in a direct way then we can underline a lack of democracy within the American system. To give more weight to the opinion of the people, a reform is planed in 2012 destined to review the number of electoral college votes by states.
The finance of the system has also to be criticized. The part of controlled finance by the Federal Election Commission is too weak compared to the use of “soft money” during the elections and the campaigns. It created too many disparities between the different candidates and prevent the apparition of a third party which can bring more democracy within the political class.
Paradoxically, the United States of America are still seen as a model for the new democracies in the whole world.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Websites
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepoliticalsystem/a/electcollege.htm
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepoliticalsystem/a/2012-Electoral-Votes-By-State.htm
http://www.netplaces.com/government-jobs/so-you-want-to-work-for-the-government/how-the-president-is-elected.htm
http://www.madore.org/~david/misc/us-voting.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html
Books
Civilisation des Etas-Unis, by Marie-Christine Pauwels, ed. Hachette Supérieur (4th ed.. 2005)
Le système politique américain on behalf of Edmond Orban and Michel Fortmann, ed. Les presses de l'université de Montréal (3rd ed. 2001)
The Political system of the United States by John D. Lees, ed. Faber and Faber (3rd ed. 1983)
Government by the people by Burns, Peltason, Cronin and Magleby, ed. Prentice-Hall (16th ed. 1995)
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