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Since the US elections have ended in a rather fascinating manner, it’s inevitable to inquire how the electoral system in this nation works. In the American electoral system, a special institution known as the Electoral College decides on behalf of the people on their vote. The United States uses this system that combines voting population with proportional states, unlike most other democracies where a candidate who garners the majority of votes is elected.
Illustration by The Geostrata
The Electoral College is an important part of the constitutional framework of the United States and comprises 538 electors. The sum of the Senators and Members of the House of Representatives from each state determines the total number of electors for that particular state. With more than 270 electoral votes, a candidate is needed to be elected as president of the United States.
PRIMARIES AND CAUCUSES: ROAD TO NOMINATION
The electoral process starts with the internal elections, called primaries, that aim to narrow down the candidates representing individual parties in the general election. These occur at the state level where members of the public, or only registered party members, can vote for their preferred candidates. The winners of these primaries will subsequently go on to be candidates of the respective parties for the presidential elections, which are held nationwide.
A series of delegate-selection events including caucuses can be found in several states in conjunction with the primaries and those are Meetings of party members at a local level, who are loyal to a candidate and select delegates who are obligated to support that particular candidate. Generally, these delegates would cast their votes in favour of the same candidate during the national convention of the party.
Primaries and caucuses and primary caucuses are two events that take place at different times in states including but not limited to Super Tuesday, Super Tuesday is notable because all participating states conduct the primaries or the caucus on that same day. Super Tuesday, like its predecessor, generally assists in determining the leading candidates for the nomination of two parties in their respective races.
THE "WINNER TAKES IT ALL" SYSTEM: HOW DOES IT WORK?
On voter registration, the voter gets to vote for electors who are nominated by political parties for the candidates they wish to vote for when registering for the election. Presidential candidates obtain votes cast by electors obtained by the party’s candidate in each state as per its popular vote in the US elections and most states have adopted a majority rule of winner-takes-all.
This implies that the candidate who rolls the highest number of votes in a particular state sweeps all the electoral college votes of that state regardless of how close the votes and the runner-up votes are.
Two states, however, have chosen a different approach. Maine and Nebraska utilise a proportional allocation system. In these states, the aggregate electoral votes are divided if the majority in a certain district fails to emerge. In each congressional district, the winner receives one electoral vote, plus the statewide winner receives the last two votes. Although this method is uncommon, it has a more acceptable approach of distributing electoral votes because it leads to a “split” electoral vote to a certain extent for these states.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SWING STATES
Another crucial aspect to take into consideration is the Swing States. The winner-takes-all system focuses a tremendous amount of power at the state level which makes swing states very critical. That is because “swing states” are the states which do not have a clear majority of voters and have high electoral votes. States like Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan have crucial electoral votes especially when a few hundred or a couple of thousands can change the turnout for a candidate instead of aiming for the 270 mark of electors.
These elections depended on the votes from seven critical states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. These states present their own unique sets of circumstances instead, and weighty issues that contribute to the makeup of the voting patterns therein.
Arizona being on the border of Mexico is at the Center of the Immigration problem. It is because of Trump’s deportation aggressive approach and Harris' immigration argument under the administration of Biden.
The Georgia Affordable Health Care for America Act has the main target of the state having an African American majority and strain between the African Americans and White Americans with the conspiracy theories on President Trump trying to bankrupt them. Michigan records most Arab Americans so there are strong feelings about US policy towards the Arabs, which in this case, affects the re-election paradigm of President Biden.
In that respect Nevada which used to be a Democratic stronghold is anticipating Republican-leaning trends with the nomination of Harris however the competition has become stringent among Latinos. North Carolina is also hotly contested after close results were witnessed in 2020 owing to fresh enthusiasm from the Democrats as seen by vigorous rallies and campaigns.
Pennsylvania, a state with a lot of electoral votes, is regarded as the final battleground due to the many visits made by both contestants. At last, Wisconsin is also important, but it is encountering the threat of third-party candidates who may take away very important votes from one of the leading parties. All of those states may be a critical factor in the race for the White House.
CRITICISMS OF THE SYSTEM
Not only has the Electoral College’s system come under scrutiny, but it is also most often discredited in cases where the person elected president was not the candidate that most of the nation’s citizens voted for.
Such cases, which are referred to as a ’misfire’ or ‘inversion’, have happened in the history of elections in the US five times with the last ones happening in the years 2000 and 2016. In these instances, the person who received the greatest number of votes across the country lost because that candidate did not obtain enough electoral votes of at least 270.
The existence of the institution of the Electoral College has forced some people to oppose this custom, for it places the interest of that particular state above those of other states in which the majority resides.
It also, to an extent, favours some states more than others and breeds apathy among the electorate in purely ‘red’ or ‘blue’ states where the victor is a foregone conclusion. There is also heightened criticism of the system because it spells out a lack of motivation on the part of presidential candidates with regard to problems that affect states where there are no swing considerations.
Moreover, the winner-take-all system means that a contestant is awarded all the electoral votes in a state even if the candidate wins by a very small margin. This implies that it is possible for a person to become president without having the majority’s support, and this is viewed by many people as politically incorrect and not in keeping with the current times. The structure of the US Electoral College is built upon the historical foundations of the federation as well as the numerical aspect of the population.
EFFORTS TO REFORM THE EXISTING SYSTEM
Many attempts have been made in the past to reconstruct and elevate the system for it to be in accordance with the dictates of the times. One of the most significant is the NPVIC, an acronym for the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. States that are part of this compact promise to award their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote irrespective of that state's popular vote outcome.
The compact will become effective only if enough states join this pact so that the total electoral votes of such states are at least two hundred and seventy. As of 2024, a few states amounting to one hundred and ninety-six electoral votes have joined this compact, but it is still short of two hundred and seventy votes. In short, this strategy aims to uphold the tenets of one-person, one-vote without amending the constitution.
The US Electoral System, due to its multi-layered steps and the existence of the Electoral College, is one of its kind in the entire world where democracy prevails. It was made to ensure that state representation does not overpower the general vote, thus earning the votes of its supporters and opponents.
According to supporters, the rationale behind this is that it honours the federalist system in America and that any state which is populous need not dictate everything at the expense of smaller ones. It buttresses the concept of states as political units with unique concerns, which is a fundamental aspect of the United States of America when the Constitution was drafted.
With changes in American ethnic composition and methods of political mobilisation, the conflicts regarding the Electoral College will also transform. After all, it has to do with the electoral competition, the level of mobilisation of voters and the agenda of issues that are discussed in the country, thus, this element of democracy in the USA is probably one of the most effective and controversial.
The future may bring changes, but understanding the current system and its impact is essential for anyone seeking insight into the workings of American democracy and its path forward.
BY NAVYA SRIRAM
TEAM GEOSTRATA
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