STAGES FOR SELECTING A PRESIDENT

STAGE I: PRIMARY AND CAUCUS A.Primary *Most states use the primary elections method *it is a 1-day statewide election in which registered voters choose 1 candidate from the list of candidates within a party to be the party’s nominee in the general election

PRIMARY *can be open or closed *occurs from January-June, but New Hampshire goes first (since 1940)

PRIMARY *Super Tuesday –held in February or March- it is one day when the greatest number of states hold their primary elections *candidates must do well on this day if they hope to have a serious chance of winning nomination

PRIMARY *percentage of popular votes a candidate receives determines the number of delegates the candidate will have at the National Convention

B. CAUCUS *about 10 states hold caucuses *occur at precinct, county, district, and state level to determine how many delegates a candidate will have at the National Convention

METHODS OF SELECTING PRESIDENTIAL DELEGATES BY STATE

CAUCUS *it is a series of meetings for registered voters only to discuss the candidates within their party *voting is not a secret—raise your hand or stand in a group showing your support

CAUCUS *lasts up to 5 months—a process! *Iowa Caucus is always first caucus

STAGE II: NATIONAL CONVENTION *held every 4 years in late summer before general election *winner of nomination is not a surprise since know how many delegate votes each candidate has already “won” based on primaries

STAGE II: NATIONAL CONVENTION *at the conventions political parties adopt a party platform AND select their party’s nominee for President and Vice- President

STAGE II: NATIONAL CONVENTION *a party platform is a statement of principles and objectives a party and its candidate supports in order to win an election *within the platform are “planks” – individual topics such as abortion, taxes, healthcare

STAGE II: NATIONAL CONVENTION *those who do the nominating are delegates…they are selected from their states *delegates are to vote based on results of the primary or caucus – they are called pledged delegates *super delegates are those who can vote however they wish

STAGE II: NATIONAL CONVENTION Major events at National Convention are: -Keynote Address: a speech on 1 st or 2 nd day summarizing party’s core message -given by popular speaker within party or up and coming member

STAGE II: NATIONAL CONVENTION -nomination of candidate through state roll call -Acceptance speech in which candidate formally accepts nomination

STAGE III: GENERAL ELECTION *First Tuesday after first Monday in November *one day of voting; hours polls are open *media focuses on number of electoral votes each candidate receives *technically NOT voting for a candidate, but for a group of electors from that candidate’s party…

STAGE IV: ELECTORAL COLLEGE *Presidents are NOT chosen directly by the people, but by the electors in the Electoral College *an elector is a person from either Republican or Democratic party who is expected to vote for a President and Vice President based on the will of the people in the general election

STAGE IV: ELECTORAL COLLEGE *there are a total of 538 electoral votes: 535 for the number of Representatives and Senators plus 3 for DC --electors from each state = number in House of Representatives & two Senators --how many electors does VA have? _______________

Virginia 2 senators 11 representatives Total 13 electors

STAGE IV: ELECTORAL COLLEGE *Electors meet in mid-December in their state capitals to cast their votes *If a candidate gets the majority of the votes in that state during the general election (called the popular vote), the candidate gets ALL of the electoral votes…this is called winner- take- all

STAGE IV: ELECTORAL COLLEGE *On January 6 th, the electoral votes are counted before Congress *Electoral College is mostly a rubber stamp; we know who will win *candidate must get 270 electoral votes to win the presidency --if no one gets 270, the House of Reps. decides

STAGE IV: ELECTORAL COLLEGE *drawbacks: can be the winner of the popular vote, but not win the presidency *there is no federal law mandating (requiring) electors to vote according to the popular vote in their state

2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION