Understanding the United States Electoral College: A Guide to Delegates and the Presidential Election Process

2020-09-18 07:00:00

There is only one presidential election in the United States, which takes place in November every four years (the president will actually take office the following January). But the election is not organized by direct universal suffrage. In each state, the winner wins a predefined number of “delegates”, and it is the one who gathers the most delegates who is elected president. Of course, the more voters a state has, the more delegates it has. Currently, for example, there are 3 delegates for the state of Alaska, and 55 in California (which has the largest population). Each State designates its delegates, who must vote for the winner of the election in the State, and the whole forms the “United States Electoral College” which is composed of 538 delegates and serves ONLY to elect the President of the United States.

The candidate who obtains the majority of the delegates is elected, and when there are only two candidates, the majority is therefore 270 delegates.

In this year 2020, the States have until December 8 maximum to appoint their delegates (and therefore have definitively counted the votes before this date). The delegates will then meet in each state on December 14.

DELEGATES…. IN DILIGENCE

You have to know the history of the country to understand the system: at a time when, in a huge country, communications were not as efficient as they are today, bringing together delegates coming in diligence from all the States made it possible to to be certain that there was no cheating in the local results, and thus to proceed with the election of the president by this assembly of delegates coming from the States. The attribution of delegates to each State also allowed that they could all be well represented, and not on the contrary crushed by the candidates of the most populated States, like New York or (later) California. It should be remembered that the United States is a federal country: United States… United, and each of which appreciates having real power.

Today there is no need to wait for the delegates to meet to find out who will be the president. Similarly, if nowadays the candidates campaign much less diligently, this electoral system nevertheless allows the field campaign to be a little more limited to the “pivot states” (the famous “swing states”). Of course, the election is also played at the national level; but the candidates do not need to show themselves too much in the places where they are certain to lose or those where they are sure to win: they must above all gain the confidence of the undecided.

Five American presidents have therefore been elected with a minority of the popular vote (and therefore with a majority of delegates): John Quincy Adams (30% in 1824), Rutherford B. Hayes (47% in 1876), Benjamin Harrison (47% in 1888), George W. Bush (47% in 2000) and Donald Trump (46% in 2016).

Since two major parties divide the delegates, foreigners often think that there are only two candidates during these American presidential elections. But usually several other candidates participate and earn a few percent. As a result, sometimes (as in 2016 for example) neither of the two main candidates obtains more than 50% of the votes (which would only be of very symbolic importance anyway).

Who are the delegates?

Each state is free to decide how it selects delegates. Generally it is the elected representatives of the local parliaments (in each State) who propose a list of members of their parties, sometimes elected representatives, sometimes activists whom they wish to thank, etc.

Some people are not eligible to be delegates: members of the United States Congress, people “engaged in an insurrection or rebellion” against the United States, and “people who have given aid to United States of America “.

Is it “democratic”?

Everyone has their own opinion (it’s the principle of democracy!). Yes, it is democratic in the sense that the candidates all respect the same rules of the game. And recent governments have not seen the point of changing these rules. However, many citizens would prefer direct universal suffrage.

How many delegates in each state:

55 California 38 Texas 29 Florida, New York 20 Illinois, Pennsylvania 18 Ohio 16 Georgia, Michigan 15 North Carolina 14 New Jersey 13 Virginia 12 Washington 11 Arizona, Indiana, Massachusetts, Tennessee 10 Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin 9 Alabama, Colorado, . South Carolina 8 Kentucky, Louisiana 7 Connecticut, Oklahoma, Oregon 6 Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Nevada, Utah 5 Nebraska, New Mexico, West Virginia 4 Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island 3 Alaska, Delaware, District of Columbia, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming = 538 delegates