An election for president of the United States happens every four years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The next presidential election will be November 5, 2024.
U.S. presidential election process follows a typical cycle:
Constitutional requirements for presidential candidates
Candidates for president of the United States must meet basic requirements. Learn about the criteria to run for president.
The U.S. Constitution states that the president must:
Be a natural-born citizen of the United States
Be at least 35 years old
Have been a resident of the United States for 14 years
Anyone who meets these requirements can declare their candidacy for president. Once a candidate raises or spends more than $5,000 for their campaign, they must register with the Federal Election Commission. That includes naming a principal campaign committee to raise and spend campaign funds.
Presidential primaries and caucuses
Primaries and caucuses are two ways that people help states and political parties choose presidential nominees. Learn how they work and the differences between the processes.
How presidential primaries and caucuses work
Presidential primaries
Most states hold primaries 6-9 months before a presidential election. Primary voters choose their preferred candidate anonymously by casting secret ballots. The state where the primary is held takes the results of the vote into account to award delegates to the winners.
Caucuses
Several states hold caucuses in the months leading up to a presidential election. Caucuses are meetings run by political parties that are held at the county, district, or precinct level. Some caucuses choose candidates by secret ballot. Others require participants to divide themselves into groups according to the candidate they support. Undecided participants form their own group. Each candidate’s group gives speeches and tries to get others to join their group. At the end, the number of delegates given to each candidate is based on the number of caucus votes they received.
Types of primaries and caucuses
Depending on state and political party rules, primaries and caucuses can be “open,” “closed,” or some hybrid of the two.
During an open primary or caucus, voters do not have to be registered with a political party to take part in its primary or caucus.
During a closed primary or caucus, only voters registered with that party can take part and vote.
“Semi-open” and “semi-closed” primaries and caucuses are variations of the two main types.
Each state has its own way of operating its primaries and caucuses.
Awarding delegates from the primaries and caucuses
States and political parties use different methods for deciding how many delegates they will award to each candidate
Delegates go on to represent their state at national party conventions.
National conventions
Political parties hold national conventions to select presidential and vice presidential nominees. Learn how the national conventions work.
What happens at a national political convention?
To become the presidential nominee, a candidate typically has to win a majority of delegates. This usually happens through the party’s state primaries and caucuses. State delegates go to the national convention to vote to confirm their choice of candidates.
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.
At the convention, the presidential nominee officially announces who will run with them for vice president.
Types of delegates at a national convention
There are two main types of delegates.
Pledged or bound delegates must support the candidate they were awarded through the primary or caucus process.
Unpledged delegates or superdelegates can support any presidential candidate they choose.
Contested and brokered conventions
In rare cases, none of the party’s candidates may have a majority of delegates going into the convention. The convention is then considered “contested.” Delegates will 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 can vote for any candidate.
Superdelegates in the Democratic Party cannot vote in the first round of a contested convention. But they can vote in the first round of a convention in which a candidate already has enough delegates through primaries and caucuses to get the nomination.
In the rare instance that no nominee wins in the first round, the convention is considered “brokered.” The pledged delegates may choose any candidate in later rounds of voting. Superdelegates can also vote in these later rounds.
Balloting continues until one candidate receives the required majority to win the nomination.
Credit = Glaad
Presidential general election
Every four years, U.S. citizens vote for president and vice president during the general election. Learn how the presidential general election works.
Presidential candidates
Major political parties nominate presidential and vice-presidential candidates at their party’s national convention. The candidates’ names will be listed on the general election ballot.
Candidates from minor political parties and independent candidates might not have a national convention. But they may be on the ballot on a state-by-state basis if they meet the eligibility requirements. This usually includes collecting a certain number of signatures on a petition for that state.
Voting in the presidential general election
In the presidential general election, citizens who are registered can:
Vote even if they did not vote in their state’s primary elections
Vote for any presidential candidate, regardless of the party they are registered with or who they voted for in the past
Most people vote on Election Day, which is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
Depending on where you live, the voting period may be extended to include absentee ballots, mail-in ballots, and early voting.
Electoral College
The Electoral College decides who will be elected president and vice president of the U.S. Learn who is involved and how the process works.
In other U.S. elections, candidates are elected directly by popular vote. But the president and vice president are not elected directly by citizens. Instead, they are chosen by “electors” through a process called the Electoral College.
The process of using electors comes from the Constitution. It was a compromise between a popular vote by citizens and a vote in Congress.
Who is in the Electoral College ?
Each state gets as many electors as it has members of Congress (House and Senate). Including Washington, D.C.’s three electors, there are currently 538 electors in all.
Each state’s political parties choose their own slate of potential electors. Who is chosen to be an elector, how, and when varies by state.
How does the Electoral College process work ?
After you cast your ballot for president, your vote goes to a statewide tally. In 48 states and Washington, D.C., the winner gets all the electoral votes for that state. Maine and Nebraska assign their electors using a proportional system.
A candidate needs the vote of at least 270 electors—more than half of all electors—to win the presidential election.
In most cases, a projected winner is announced on election night in November after you vote. But the actual Electoral College vote takes place in mid-December when the electors meet in their states.
While the Constitution does not require electors to vote for the candidate chosen by their state’s popular vote, some states do. The rare elector who votes for someone else may be fined, disqualified and replaced by a substitute elector, or potentially even prosecuted by their state.
Unusual Electoral College scenarios
Winning the popular vote but losing the election
It is possible to win the Electoral College but lose the popular vote. This happened in 2016, 2000, and three times in the 1800s.
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.
This has happened twice. The first time was following the 1800 presidential election, when the House chose Thomas Jefferson. And following the 1824 presidential election, the House selected John Quincy Adams as president.
How to change the Electoral College ?
The Electoral College process is in the U.S. Constitution. It would take a constitutional amendment to change the process.
Q 1. Why does the United States have only two major political parties
Ans – The drafters of the U.S. Constitution did not envision political parties. But, as voting rights broadened and the nation expanded westward, political parties emerged. Two major parties—Democrats and Whigs—became firmly established and powerful by the 1830s. Today, the Republican and Democratic parties dominate the political process—both of them heirs to predecessor parties from the 18th and 19th centuries.
With rare exceptions, members of the two major parties control the presidency, the Congress, the governorships and the state legislatures. Every president since 1852 has been either a Republican or a Democrat.
Q 2.What is the United States two major political parties Symbols ?
Ans – THE DONKEY AND ELEPHANT HAVE BEEN THE SYMBOLS OF THE DEMOCRATS
AND THE REPUBLICANS SINCE THE 19TH CENTURY.