US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Readers may
object to my calling US Presidential Election Processes using some strong
adjectives such as ‘confused, contradictory, contentious.’ I concede that US Electoral
System is the oldest democratic system in the world, while Indian Electoral
System is the largest democratic system in the world.
Compared to
US De-centralized Electoral System, India’s Centralized System under one Apex
Body called – ‘Election Commission of India – completely independent body created
under the Constituent of India to conduct all elections for Lok Sabha, State
Assemblies, Rajya Sabha, the President, Vice-President down to Panchayat
Elections – mostly through Electronic Voting Machines. This was hailed as the
most efficient and successful election processes by the world at large.
Then, one
may ask – Why the US was using Paper Ballots – that too not uniform but every
States had their own methods of printing ballot papers, postal votings etc.
instead of a centralized Mechanical Voting Systems under one independent
autonomous apex body as prevalent in India ?
In one word,
the answer is “Federalism” which, US believes, is more vital to preserve
freedom in a democratic set up for a long time till to-day.
But, it is a
fact that Concept of Federalism had in some elections become a setback, as a
candidate who received less than a majority of the popular vote was elected as
the President, while the losing candidate secured a majority of the popular
vote – all due to the faulty system of Electoral College.
Yet
movements for electoral reform, including proposals for a straightforward
nationwide direct election by popular vote, have gained little traction.
Supporters
of the current system defend it as a manifestation of federalism, arguing that
it also guards against the chaos inherent in a multiparty environment by
encouraging the current two-party system. Critics, on the other hand, charge
that the current system negates the one-person, one-vote basis of U.S.
elections, subverts majority rule, works against political participation in
states deemed safe for one party, and might lead to chaos should an elector
desert a candidate, thus thwarting the popular will.
In the 2000 presidential election, George W. Bush received fewer
popular votes than Albert Gore Jr., but received a majority of electoral votes,
and the 2016 election, where Donald J. Trump received fewer popular votes than
Hillary Clinton, but received a majority of electoral votes.
Florida State Electorates of 25 had gone to Bush thereby giving
him a victory in the presidential election. Gore received 48.4 percent popular votes as against Bush
receiving only 47.9 popular votes, losing by over 540,000 votes, but still Al Gore
with only 250 electorates as against Bush’s
271 due to Florida 25 electorates gained by Bush made Bush a victor in
the presidential election!
Again in 2016, even though millions
more individuals voted for the Democratic candidate than the Republican
candidate in CA, PA, and TX (if you add the votes from the 3 States), the
Democratic Party was only awarded the electors appointed in CA. Because the
Republican candidate won the State popular vote in PA and TX, the Republican Party
was awarded 3 more total electors than the Democratic Party.
(Total - 15,658,117 Democratic votes
cast vs 12,139,590 Republican votes cast for the national popular vote, but 55
Democratic electors vs 58 Republican electors)
There
are many such lacunae in the US Electoral System which will be dealt with in
this editorial essay.
Now
let me walk through the various pit falls as I see on reviewing the present US
Election Processes.
First
let me take the symbols of two parties – the Republic and Democratic. Elephant
is the symbol of the Republic, while Donkey is the symbol of the Democratic.
Red
is the color of the Republic and Blue is that of Democratic.
Here
are their symbols:
But in their party symbols, they have both blue and red – but more red and less blue for Republic and vice versa. If you ask – Why this?, they will say our US flag have blue and red colors and our parties should respect our flag by having both colours.
In the early 20th century, the traditional symbol of the
Democratic Party in Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Ohio was the rooster, as
opposed to the Republican eagle. This symbol still appears on Oklahoma,
Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia ballots. The rooster was adopted as the official symbol of the
national Democratic Party. In New York,
the Democratic ballot symbol is a five-pointed star and not rooster!
Donkey Symbol, it was revealed, is only semi-official. The
new logo, which featured a blue D inside a blue circle was the party’s first
official logo.
But there
were no uniformity in ballot papers – size, manner of marking ballot papers,
etc. Even printing of ballot papers were
the job of respective States who conduct the election and hence on the concept
of federalism, they were following their own set of rules.
Anyhow,
there are no national standards for ballot forms, but federal law does require
that administrators provide ballots in multiple languages when a percentage of
the population in their jurisdiction does not speak English as a primary
language.
Some states
have replaced paper ballots with voting machines and other types of voting, as Elections in the United States are
administered at the state and local level, and the federal government does not
set mandatory standards for voting technologies.
·
1. Paper Ballots
·
2. Lever Machines
·
3. Punchcards
·
4. Computer
(push-buttons)
·
5. Marksense Forms
·
6. Electronic Voting
Though some
states have passed laws that require government issued identification or
eliminate registration on Election Day, some states still allow voters to
register on Election Day.
Several
States have adopted procedures that make ballots available to voters before the
election. This trend started with provisions for absentee ballots, issued to
voters who anticipate being away from their home (and their voting place) on Election
Day. Some states and local jurisdictions gradually liberalized this provision,
allowing citizens to register as ‘permanent absentee voters’ and routinely have
a ballot mailed to their home.
Two States –
Oregon and Washington – conduct their elections entirely by mail. Absentee
voters generally return their completed ballots by mail. Some states now allow
citizens to vote up to three week before Election Day using voting machines in
shopping malls and other public places.
Some of the diverse practices that seem odd to Indians who are used to a giant, meticulously operated and centrally controlled system, are indicative of the options available to the American voter, and reflect the implicit trust that is placed in the voter.
In US it is
offered as a choice to the voter. In India, there is a strong argument against
postal ballots on account of the possible influence others may exercise on the
voter and the concern relating to secrecy of voting. It is on account of this
that the facility of ballot paper voting when allowed to senior citizens was
implemented by a team of polling personnel physically delivering the ballot to
the voter and collecting it on the spot after it had been cast. If the ballots
were posted to such voters, there was neither an assurance that the ballot
paper would be received by the voter concerned and that he or she would
exercise her right without being influenced by interested parties.
There are
two more important major issues to be dealt with –
viz. 1.
Procedures adopted by Political Parties in nominating their presidential
candidates
and
2. Composition,
Duties and Responsibilities of Electoral College.
1. Procedures adopted by political parties to nominate
their presidential candidates are through primaries and caucuses.
Primaries and
caucuses
Each of the 50 US states has its own Democrat and Republican
leaders. In some states, this leadership is represented by groups known as a
'caucus'. At the time of the declaration of the next presidential election,
candidates who wish to put their hat in the ring must first win their party's
nomination.
For this purpose, the candidates are required to
campaign across the United States and convince the members of their respective
party to vote for them in the primaries (contest to decide who wins the
nomination).
State party members who vote in favour of a particular
candidate are counted as that candidate's delegates.
The modern nominating process of U.S. presidential
elections consists of two major parts:
1. a series of presidential primary elections and
caucuses held in each state,
2. the presidential nominating conventions held by each political party.
This process was never included in the Constitution, and
thus evolved over time by the political parties to clear the field of
candidates.
The primary elections are run by state and local governments, while
the caucuses are organized
directly by the political parties.
Some states hold
only primary elections, some hold only caucuses, and others use a combination
of both. These primaries and caucuses are staggered generally between January
and June before the federal election, with Iowa and New Hampshire traditionally holding the first presidential state
caucus and primary, respectively.
Like the general election, presidential caucuses or
primaries are indirect elections.
The major political parties officially vote for their
presidential candidate at their respective nominating conventions, usually all
held in the summer before the federal election.
Depending on each state's law and state's political party
rules, when voters cast ballots for a candidate in a presidential caucus or
primary, they may be voting to award delegates "bound" to vote for a
candidate at the presidential nominating conventions, or they may simply be
expressing an opinion that the state party is not bound to follow in selecting
delegates to their respective national convention.
Unlike the general election, voters in the U.S.
territories can also elect delegates to the national conventions.
Furthermore, each political party can determine how many
delegates to allocate to each state and territory.
Presidential
Candidates are selected through either by Primary or Caucus. Though these are purely political in nature,
it is the norm that State and Local Governments determine the dates on which
primary elections or caucuses are held. For Indian Voters, it may be unethical
and unwarranted.
To become the
presidential nominee, a candidate typically has 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. In general, primaries use
secret ballots for voting. Caucuses are local gatherings of voters who vote at
the end of the meeting for a particular candidate.
But if no candidate gets the majority of a party’s
delegates during the primaries and caucuses, convention delegates choose the
nominee. This happens through additional rounds of voting.
Both primaries and
caucuses can be “open,” “closed,” or some hybrid of the two.
o
During an open primary or caucus, people can vote for a
candidate of any political party.
o
During a closed primary or caucus, only voters
registered with that party can take part and vote.
o
“Semi-open” and “semi-closed” primaries and caucuses are
variations of the two main types.
Example:
§ closed / semi-closed primaries (e.g. Arizona)
·
open primaries (e.g.
Missouri)
·
blanket primaries
(e.g. Lousiana)
In the party, there are two main types of delegates viz.
Pledged, or Bound delegates and Unpledged or Super Delegates. They must support
the candidates of their respective presidential candidates, but, Super
Delegates are free to support any presidential candidate they choose.
In rare cases, if none of the party’s candidates has a
majority of delegates going into the convention, the convention is considered
“contested” or “brokered”.
Delegates will then pick their presidential nominee
through one or more rounds of voting.
·
In the first round of voting, pledged delegates usually
have to vote for the candidate they were awarded to at the start of the convention.
Unpledged delegates don't.
·
Super delegates can't vote in the first round unless a
candidate already has enough delegates through primaries and caucuses to get
the nomination.
·
If no nominee wins in the first round, the convention is
considered “brokered.” The pledged delegates may choose any candidate in
later rounds of voting. Super delegates can vote in these later rounds.
Balloting continues until one candidate receives the
required majority to win the nomination.
Hence, In
a Caucus: Party members select the best candidate through a series
of discussions and votes. In a Primary:
Party members vote for the best candidate that will represent them in
the general election.
At the convention, the presidential nominee officially
announces their selection of a vice presidential running mate.
In 2012 for example, the Democratic and Republican Party
conventions each used two different formulas to allocate delegates.
The Democrats-based theirs on two main factors: the
proportion of votes each state gave to the Democratic candidate in the previous
three presidential elections, and the number of electoral votes each state had
in the Electoral College.
In contrast, the Republicans assigned to each state 10
delegates, plus three delegates per congressional district. Both parties
then gave a fixed number of delegates to each territory, and finally bonus
delegates to states and territories that passed certain criteria.
Along with delegates chosen during primaries and caucuses,
state and U.S. territory delegations to both the Democratic and Republican Party
conventions also include "unpledged" delegates who have a vote.
For Republicans, they consist of the three top party
officials from each state and territory. Democrats have a more expansive group
of unpledged delegates called "super delegates", who are party
leaders and elected officials.
Each party's presidential candidate also chooses a vice
presidential nominee to run with him or her on the same ticket, and this choice is rubber-stamped by the convention.
The conventions have historically been held inside convention
centers, but since the late 20th century both the
Democratic and Republican parties have favored sports arenas and domed stadiums to accommodate the increasing
attendance.
National Conventions : Each party holds a national convention to select a final presidential nominee.
State delegates from the primaries and caucuses selected to represent the people will now “endorse” their favorite candidates and the final presidential nominee from each party will be officially announced at the end of the conventions.
Hence, Conventions finalize a party’s choice for
presidential and vice presidential nominees.
In the 2020 presidential election, only
Iowa, Nevada, North Dakota, Wyoming and a handful of U.S. territories will hold
caucuses.
The nominated presidential candidates
then campaign across the country to explain their views and plans to voters.
They may also participate in debates with candidates from other parties.
2. Composition, Duties and
Responsibilities of Electoral College.
Geographically US consists of 50 States and Districts of Washington DC with 3 electors which elects their members of House of Representatives to form Electoral College. This forum is called Lower House of Congress. Numbers of House Representatives of each State are decided by the population of respective states which will be updated every 10 years. That means that as the tenure of President/Vice-President is restricted to 4 years terms, the revision takes place after every two presidential elections. The term of Lower House Member is for 2 years and hence, at the time of every presidential election, new Lower House Members will also be elected directly by the voters along with president and vice-president.
Apart from Lower House, Electoral College has Upper House with
Senate Members having 6 years term being elected every 4 years.
As every State will have 2 Senators each, total Senators for the
Electoral College will be 100 i.e. 50 x 2 = 100. Every four years 1/3 of 100
i.e. 33 Senators will retire and third lot will be 34 senators for retirement. It
should be noted that each of the 50 states have
been allotted 2 seats each in the upper house of the Congress, no matter how
big or small the population is. This allotment is different from number of
seats allotted to Lower House on the basis of population census.
Hence in
2020 US election, number of Lower House Members for each State had undergone
changes from the last census of
2010.
At present,
Electoral College has 538 total members of Congress – 435 Lower House Electoral
Members from States plus 3 Lowers House Electoral Members from Washington DC
and 100 Upper House Senators – Total 435 + 3 + 100 = 538. Therefore, the magic
majority mark is 270 votes of electors of Electoral College to get elected as
the President of US.
The number of voting
representatives is fixed by law at 435. In addition, there are currently six
non-voting members, bringing the total membership of the US House of
Representatives to 441 or fewer with vacancies. As of the 2020 Census, the
largest delegation is that of California, with 55 representatives. Seven states
have only one representative: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South
Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.
Under Article I, Section 2 of the
Constitution, seats in the House of Representatives are apportioned among the
states by population, as determined by the census conducted every ten years.
Each state is entitled to at least one representative, however small its
population.
The constitutional rule relating
to the size of the House states:
"The Number of
Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State
shall have at Least one Representative."
Congress regularly increased the
size of the House to account for population growth until it fixed the number of
voting House members at 435 in 1911. In 1959, upon the admission of Alaska and
Hawaii, the number was temporarily increased to 437 (seating one representative
from each of those states without changing existing apportionment), and
returned to 435 four years later, after the reapportionment consequent to the
1960 census.
The Constitution does not provide
for the representation of the District of Columbia or of territories. The
District of Columbia and the territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam,
the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are each represented
by one non-voting delegate.
In fine,
along with Presidential Elections, all 438 seats in the House of
Representatives, the full terms for 33 or 34 of the 100 seats in the Senate,
the Governorships of several States and many state and local elections are held
simultaneously making the paper ballot cumbersome and lengthy.
While Lower
House and Upper House Members and others are elected directly by popular vote,
the president and vice-president are not elected directly by citizens. Instead
they are chosen by ‘Electors’ through process called the Electoral College.
The United States House of Representatives is the lower house of the
United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper house. Together they
compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
Now let us deal with
two situations –
(1) where the president elected by the Electors got less popular votes than the losing candidate
and
(2) when no one
crossed the majority votes of 270.
1. Winning the Popular Vote but Losing the Election
A candidate needs the vote of at least 270 electors—more
than half of all electors—to win the presidential election.
Most of the time, the winner of a US presidential election
also wins the national popular vote. It is possible to win
the Electoral College but lose the popular vote.
This happened in 1876, 1888, 2000, and
2016 and were all losses of three percentage points or less.
It is important to remember that the
President is not chosen by a national popular vote. The Electoral College vote
totals determine the winner, not the statistical plurality or majority a
candidate may have in the national popular vote totals. Electoral votes are
awarded on the basis of the popular vote in each state.
For example, all 55 of California’s
electoral votes go to the winner of the state election, even if the margin of
victory is only 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent.
In most cases, a projected winner is announced on
election night in November after public vote. But the actual Electoral College
vote takes place in mid-December when the electors meet in their states.
2. What Happens if No Candidate Wins the Majority of
Electoral Votes?
If no candidate receives the majority of electoral votes, the vote goes to the House of Representatives. House members
choose the new president from among the top three candidates. The Senate elects
the vice president from the remaining top two candidates.
This has only happened once. In 1824, the House of
Representatives elected John Quincy Adams as president.
Since local governments are responsible for managing
elections, these races typically all appear on one ballot. The Electoral
College electors then formally cast their electoral votes on the first Monday
after December 12 at their state's capital.
Congress then certifies the results in early January, and
the presidential term begins on Inauguration Day, which since the passage of the Twentieth
Amendment has been set at January 20.
Most state laws establish a winner-take-all system,
wherein the ticket that wins a plurality of
votes wins all of that state's allocated electoral votes, and thus has their
slate of electors chosen to vote in the Electoral College.
Maine and Nebraska do not use this method, instead giving two
electoral votes to the statewide winner and one electoral vote to the winner of
each Congressional district.
Each state's winning slate of electors then meets at their
respective state's capital on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in
December to cast their electoral votes on separate ballots for president and
vice president.
In early January, the total Electoral College vote count
is opened by the sitting vice president, acting in his capacity as President
of the Senate, and read aloud to a joint
session of the incoming Congress, which was
elected at the same time as the President.
If no candidate receives a majority of the electoral vote
(at least 270), the President is determined by the rules outlined by the Twelfth
Amendment.
Specifically, the selection of President would then be
decided by a contingent election in a ballot of the
House of Representatives.
For the purposes of electing the President, each state has
only one vote.
A ballot of the Senate is held to choose the Vice
President. In this ballot, each senator has one vote.
The House has chosen the victor of the presidential race
only twice, in 1800 and 1824;
The Senate has chosen the victor of the vice-presidential
race only once, in 1836.
Another problem may arise if Some Electors become
‘Faithless Electors’ i.e. casting their electoral votes against the person whom
they have pledged to vote.
Although Electoral College members can vote for anyone
under the U.S. Constitution, 33 states plus
the District of Columbia have laws
against faithless electors,
those electors who do not cast their
electoral votes for the person for whom they have pledged to vote.
The Supreme Court ruled
unanimously in the case Chiafalo v. Washington on July 6, 2020 that the constitution does not
prevent states from penalizing or replacing faithless electors.
However, not all states have such laws on the books. Among
the closely contested states in 2020, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are among the
states without faithless elector laws.
Also under federal law, a
joint session of Congress is required by the
12th Amendment to count the electoral votes and declare the winners of the
presidential election. That joint session of Congress is held on January 6,
2021 at 1 p.m.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. The objective of the commission is “Protecting the integrity of the campaign finance process”.
The
commission has not functioned since late August 2019, with an exception for the
period of May 2020 to July 2020, due to lack of a quorum. In the
absence of a quorum, the commission cannot vote on complaints or give guidance
through advisory opinions.
As of May
19, 2020, there were 350 outstanding matters on the agency's enforcement docket
and 227 items waiting for action. To complete steps
necessary to resolve a complaint – including time for defendants to respond to
the complaint, time to investigate and engage in legal analysis, and finally,
where warranted, prosecution – necessarily takes far longer than the comparatively
brief period of a political campaign.
Critics of the FEC have harshly complained of the FEC's
impotence, and accused it of succumbing to regulatory
capture where it serves the interests of the ones it was
intended to regulate.
The FEC's bipartisan structure, which was established by
Congress, renders the agency "toothless." Critics also claim that
most FEC penalties for violating election law come well after the actual election in which they were
committed.
CONCLUSION:
Hence US Elections had many loopholes that need to be
plugged to be voter friendly and also to represent the popular voters’ choices
allowing electing the President and Vice President directly instead of through
indirect mechanism of Electoral College.
Let me quote some of the criticism about the present US
Election system:
v The Electoral College is archaic and inherently undemocratic.
Some of the suggestions mooted to cleanse the US Electoral System are also noted here.
ü Every
Vote Counts Amendment, have been proposed seeking
to replace the Electoral College with a direct popular vote, which proponents
argue would increase turnout and participation.
ü National
Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an interstate
compact without Congressional authorization,
suggest that individual participating states agree to allocate their electors
based on the winner of the national popular vote, instead of voting their
respective statewide results.
ü Another proposal is for every state to simply adopt the District
system used by Maine and Nebraska: give two electoral votes to the statewide
winner and one electoral vote to the winner of each Congressional district.
ü The Automatic Plan would replace the Electors with an automatic
tallying of votes to eliminate the faithless elector affecting the outcome of
the election.
In the concept of Federalism, Individual’s Voting Choice
should overweigh all other factors and doubting the wisdom of individual voters
in choosing directly its President and Vice President is against the solemn
concept and policy of freedom itself. Fear of Multi – Party System should not
create a stumbling block to amend the constitution to give way for direct
election of the President and Vice-President and introduction of Electronic
Voting Machines.
HOPE THAT MY
OBSERVATIONS THAT US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION – MOST CONFUSED, CONTRADICTORY,
CONTENTIOUS PROCESSES WERE BASED ON VALID AND SOLID REASONS
AND ANALYSIS.
SATYAMEVA
JAYATHE
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