Election of the American president
The election of the American president in the political
system of the USA is the most power full transition of government in the world. The
US constitution gives a presidential form of government. The framers of the US
constitution spend a lot of time in deciding the method of the election of
the president. After a great deal of discussion, they proposed indirect election
for the president by an electoral college, which is now embodied in section 1,
2 and 3 in article 2 of the US constitution.
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QUALIFICATION OF
PRESIDENT
The constitution imposes three conditions for the candidate to
run the president election
AGE
The candidate must be more than 35 years
2
CITIZENSHIP
Natural born citizen of US
3
RESIDENCY
The candidate musT reside in the US for 14 years
MODE OF ELECTION
The mode of election of US president is indirect, theoretically.
The constitution provides that the president should be elected by the Electoral
College consisting of as many presidential electors as the members of the both
houses of the Congress.
ELECTION IN THEORY
President must not be a member of the congress, nor elected by the
congress or people directly. This means that the president is elected by an
electoral college consisting of the representative of the state. The people of each
state elect the presidential electors ( members of the electoral college) from their
state equal to the number of the representatives that state has in both houses
of congress. No member of congress is allowed to become the presidential
elector. The election of the electors is on the general ticket system. According to
this system, each voter cast votes as many as the number of electors has to be chosen
from that state. Each party prepares a list of candidates equal to the number
of the elector (usually party leaders) and submits it to the general public to vote
for. As a result of this method, the party that secures the majority of votes
gets all the electoral votes of the state. A small majority can result in the
whole electors of the state.
The president electors then meet on a specific date and
caste vote for president. These votes are then sealed and sent to the capital
of the USA, were the president of congress and members of both houses count the
vote. The candidate, who obtains an absolute majority, is declared as president of
the USA. The electors also vote for vice president and the same parallel process is
adopted for vice president.
To win a candidate must obtain 270 or more votes out
of 538 to secure the office.
If no one gets this much votes, there will be a reelection
in the house of Representatives for president.
House of representative elects a president from the top three vote taker candidates from the first round of the election. The members of the house of Representatives
divide into states delegation and each delegation has one vote. Members of the two-third sate must be president in the session and the majority vote is 26.
In the case of vice president, members of the Senate vote for, each
member votes individually for the vice president among the top two candidates. Two-third members must be present in the session and the candidate needs to get 51
or more votes to win the election.
The election must be over by the first week of January and
the new president must assume office on 20th January.
ELECTION IN
PRACTICAL
The framers of the US constitution were against the direct
election of the president, Because they wanted that the president should be
choose by intelligent and educated people but their intentions were defeated
with the emergence of the party system in the US. The election is now becoming direct in
spirits.
Now the party nominates the candidates and electors and the
electors are bound to vote for the party nominated candidate only. They do not
have a free hand in choosing the president. Voters actually vote for the party
in the shape of electors which makes the election of the president directly in
practical.
The result of the presidential election is soon known to everybody
when the Electoral College election result is announced. Thus, we can say that the election of the
president is indirectly in practical but indirect theoretically.
The election of elector holds on Tuesday following the first Monday
of November of every leap year.
TERM
The term of the president is 4 years and can be re-elected. Any
candidate can become president twice in his lifetime (after 22nd amendment to
constitution).
SUCCESSION
Article 2, section 1, clause 5 of the US constitution, vice
president succeed to president office till the next election years after the
incumbent present death, resignation impeachment or inability to discharge its
duties.
CONCLUSION
The election of the president of the USA is direct election in
practical, however, the constitution gives an indirect method. The presidential
election campaign starts a year and four-month before the Election Day, casting
the country more than a billion dollars and is perhaps the most complicated and
longest process.
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