myurbandream: (i'm smart! (honestly))
[personal profile] myurbandream
So I just learned a LOT about how presidential elections work in the USA. I kinda vaguely knew about some of this already - I did take US government in high school - but I never really understood it this clearly before. :D

For reference:
http://ask.yahoo.com/20030704.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_election
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_primary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_nominating_convention
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_%28United_States%29

Okay, so, setting aside the electoral college and indirect voting for a moment, let's just look at the process of getting on the ballot:

-The first thing to remember is that both the primary and the general elections are state elections. Although the political parties may make national decisions, those decisions are based on state election results.

-The next thing to know is that each state has their own process, forms, fees, laws, etc for this entire process, because the constitution says diddly squat about political parties and nomination of candidates - it only concerns itself with the number of electors in the electoral college and how they can cast their votes. So my understanding is very generalized.

-Finally, realize that the main purpose of the primary elections and caucuses is to help the party determine which candidate to nominate on a national level, among all the ones that received votes in the primary/caucus. Candidates do not have to receive a majority or even be on the ballot in all 50 states (plus WDC) in order to be selected as the final nominee of their party.

Okay, a hypothetical situation:

-In each state, six people jump through all the hoops and pay all the fines to get on the ballot of the primary election/caucus. (The primary/caucus might be partisan, closed-vote, whatever, it doesn't matter.) Two of the candidates who pay their way onto the ballot are Republican, two are Democrat, one is Independent A, and the last is Independent B. Then each state individually holds their own primary/caucus sometime between February and March.

-Once all the primaries are completed in each state, the parties gather nationally (in June or July) to run the numbers and decide which candidates they will not be withdrawing from the primary. (Technically, there could be two candidates from the same party running for President in the general election - but no party would allow that, because it drastically reduces their chances of either candidate winning, as the party's vote is split between them.) So at the post-primary Democratic National Convention, they compare only the votes given to the two Democratic candidates in each state. So say in State X, of all the votes cast for either Democratic candidate, Candidate A got 30% and Candidate B got the other 70%. (Remember, that's not 70% of all the votes in that state's primary, just the Democratic votes.) So in State X, Democratic Candidate B got more votes than Democratic Candidate A. DemCand B wins State X over DemCand A, but not necessarily over the two Republican or Independent candidates - who knows which one has the plurality (or, on long odds, the majority) in any given state?

-But back to the post-primary Democratic National Convention: they look at the number of states each of their two candidates did better in, and say DemCand A only beat out DemCand B in 20 states. The Democratic Party decides, on a national level, that DemCand A will remove him/herself from each state's ballot and not compete in the November General Election. The party then announces DemCand B as their officially endorsed nominee for President. (And Vice President. Whatever.)

-And let's say that in the post-primary Republican National Convention, they decide that RepCand A has a better chance of winning a plurality in the General Election than RepCand B, so RepCand A is officially nominated and RepCand B withdraws their name from each state's general election ballot.

-Now the two Independent candidates are from two different parties. Let's say Indep A did pretty decently in many of the state primaries/caucuses, so Indep A's party holds their post-primary convention and they're basically saying "Whew! That went well! I hope we win the General Election too!" And Indep A refrains from withdrawing from the General Election ballots. But let's say Indep B didn't do so hot. So they hold their post-primary convention and decide that they can't afford to waste the money on a campaign they'll probably lose. Indep B withdraws from the General Election state ballots, and their party tells all their constituents to vote for DemCand B, since their political ideologies are more closely aligned than with Indep A or RepCand A.

-So the General Election rolls around in November, and the only three candidates in each state that have not withdrawn their names are DemCand B, Indep A, and Repub A, each with a Vice President. The popular vote occurs by state in early November. Then each state's electors in the Electoral College cast their votes for President and Vice President in mid-December, based on their state's results from the popular vote, and Congress announces the official results in January.


...I still have no idea how candidates for the Electoral College are selected - that's a lesson for another day.
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