US Presidential Election Process A Brief Overview

US Presidential Election Process Click the links below for more information Branches of Government Political Parties Primaries, Caucuses and Conventions Incumbent and Non-incumbent General Election Electoral College

3 Branches of Government Executive Branch President Vice President Cabinet Legislative Branch Senate Congress House of Representatives Judicial Branch Supreme Court Highest Court Federal Courts Home

Political Parties Democratic Republican Independent and Various others Referred to as the Democrats Republican Referred to as the Republicans or the GOP (Grand Old Party) Independent and Various others Those who do not want to be identified with either of the two major parties may register as an independent or under the banner of a smaller lesser known party. Home

Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions Each party has can have an unlimited number of candidates who want to seek their party’s nomination during the primary process to be the candidate selected and placed on the ballot for the November presidential election. This primary process begins with the candidates campaigning throughout the US to gain delegates assigned based on the popular vote. This primary process ends with the parties’ convention where the candidate who receives the most delegates is the party’s nominee for president. (Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention) The primaries and caucuses are when the people of each state vote for the candidate they want to be the parties’ nominee (person nominated at the party’s convention to be the party’s candidate for president.) Each candidate wins delegates based on the number of votes he receives. The delegates then go to the convention and vote. Usually a candidate knows he has enough votes to win the nomination before the convention. Once a candidate knows he is the nominee he selects a Vice President who will be nominated with him. Once nominated they are put on the party’s ticket, which means they will represent they party by being put on the ballot for people to vote for. Home

Incumbent and Non-Incumbent The person who is currently serving in the political office. In this case the current President. Non-Incumbent The person trying to unseat the current political office holder. In this case any candidate not from the current President’s party. When a President is serving his 2nd term in office, both parties must nominate a new candidate. During this year all candidates are non-incumbents. Home

General Election Democratic Ticket Republican Ticket Even though President Obama and Vice President Biden are the current office holders, they are considered candidates in the November election because they running for re-election—trying to win again. Democratic Ticket President—Barak Obama Vice-President—Joe Biden Current office holders Incumbents Republican Ticket President—Mitt Romney Vice-President—Paul Ryan Candidates Non-Incumbents When is the election? Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Home

Electoral College What is the Electoral College? The Electoral College is a process, not a place. The founding fathers established it in the Constitution as a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens. The Electoral College process consists of the selection of the electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress. The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. Your state’s entitled allotment of electors equals the number of members in its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two for your Senators. Most states have a “winner-take-all” system that awards all electors to the winning presidential candidate. However, Maine and Nebraska each have a variation of “proportional representation.” http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/about.html Home