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United States presidential elections determine who serves as President and Vice President of the United States for four-year terms, starting at midday on Inauguration Day, which is January 20th of the year after the election.
The most recent election occurred on November 2, 2004. The next election is scheduled for November 4, 2008.
How elections are administered
The election of the United States President is governed by Section 1 of Article Two of the United States Constitution, as amended by Amendments XII, XXII, and XXIII. The President and Vice President are elected on the same ticket by the U.S. Electoral College, whose members are elected directly from each state; the President and Vice President serve four-year terms.
Elections take place every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November (although in many states early and absentee voting begins several weeks before Election Day). The elections are run by local election boards who ensure the fair and impartial nature of the election and prevent tampering of the results.
Ballot candidates
Voters are required to vote on a ballot where they select the candidate of their choice. The Presidential ballot is actually voting "for the electors of a candidate" meaning that the voter is not actually voting for the candidate, but endorsing members of the Electoral College who will, in turn, directly elect the President.
Many voting ballots allow a voter to "blanket vote" for all candidates in a particular political party or to select individual candidates on a line by line voting system. Which candidates appear on the voting ticket is determined through a legal process known as ballot access. Usually, the size of the candidate's political party and the results of the major nomination conventions determine who is pre-listed on the Presidential ballot. Thus, the Presidential election ticket will not list every single candidate running for President, but only those who have secured a major party nomination or whose size of their political party warrants having been formally listed. Laws are in effect to have other candidates pre-listed on a ticket, provided that a sufficient number of voters have endorsed the candidate, usually through a signature list. Never, however, in U.S. history has a 3rd party candidate for President secured a place on the election ticket in this fashion.
The final way to be elected for President is to have one's name written in at the time of election as a write-in candidate. This is used for candidates who did not fulfill the legal requirements to be pre-listed on the voting ticket. It is also used by voters to express a distaste for the listed candidates, by writing in a ridiculous candidate for President such as Mickey Mouse or Darth Vader. In any event, a write-in candidate has never won an election for President of the United States.
1824 scenario
An 1824 scenario is when no candidate receives enough electoral votes to win the election. In this case the selection of a president is decided by a ballot of the House of Representatives. A second ballot of the Senate is held to chose the Vice President. In each ballot every state is given one vote. A United States presidential election has only been decided in this manner once, this was the presidential election of 1824, the only election since its ratification in which the 12th Amendment was not enacted.
Presidential election trends
In recent decades, one of the presidential nominees of the Democratic and Republican parties has almost always been an incumbent President or a sitting or former Vice President. In fact, in the likely case that the 2008 election is an open race, it would be the first time since the 1952 election and only the second time since the 1928 election in which neither a Vice President nor a sitting President will be either party's nominee.
When the candidate has not been a President or Vice President, presidential nominees of the two main parties have been state Governors or U.S. Senators. The last nominee from either party who had not previously served in such an office was General Dwight D. Eisenhower who won the Republican nomination and ultimately the presidency in the 1952 election.
Contemporary electoral success has favored state governors. Of the last five Presidents (Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush), only George H.W. Bush had never been Governor of a state. Geographically, these Presidents were all from either very large states (California, Texas) or from a state south of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of Texas (Georgia, Arkansas). The last elected President from a northern state and sitting U.S. Senator elected President was John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts in 1960.
Results
- † Winner received less than 50% of all popular votes.
- ‡ Losing candidate received a plurality of the popular votes.
** Losing candidate received an absolute majority of the popular votes.
- Notes
- Presidents John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur and Gerald Ford served as president but never won an election for president.
- Ford was never elected vice-president.
- Tyler and Johnson were never major candidates, not even as incumbent presidents.
- Fillmore was a major candidate, but not as an incumbent.
Voter turnout
Voter turnout in presidential elections has been on the decline in recent years, although it bounced back sharply during the 2004 election from the 1996 and 2000 lows. While turnout has been decreasing, registration has been increasing. Registration rates varied from 65% to 70% of the voting age population from the 1960s to the 1980s, and due in part to greater government outreach programs, registration swelled to 75% in 1996 and 2000. Despite greater registration, however, turnout in general has not greatly improved, save the sharp bounce back in 2004.
| Election | Voting Age Population ¹ | Turnout | % Turnout of VAP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 215,694,000 | 122,295,345 | 51.70% |
| 2000 | 205,815,000 | 105,586,274 | 47.30% |
| 1996 | 196,511,000 | 96,456,345 | 49.08% |
| 1992 | 189,529,000 | 104,405,155 | 55.09% |
| 1988 | 182,778,000 | 91,594,693 | 50.11% |
| 1984 | 174,466,000 | 92,652,680 | 53.11% |
| 1980 | 164,597,000 | 86,515,221 | 52.56% |
| 1976 | 152,309,190 | 81,555,789 | 53.55% |
| 1972 | 140,776,000 | 77,718,554 | 55.21% |
| 1968 | 120,328,186 | 69,211,875 | 48.84% |
| 1964 | 114,090,000 | 70,644,592 | 60.92% |
| 1960 | 109,159,000 | 68,838,204 | 69.06% |
Sources: Federal Election Commission, Office of the Clerk, U.S. Census Bureau
¹ It should be noted that the voting age population includes all persons age 18 and over as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, which necessarily includes a significant number of persons ineligible to vote, such as non-citizens or felons. The actual number of eligible voters is somewhat lower, and the number of registered voters is lower still. The number of non-citizens in 1994 was approximately 13 million, and in 1996, felons numbered around 1.3 million, so it can be estimated that around 7-10% of the voting age population is ineligible to vote.
Note that the large drop in turnout between 1968 and 1972 can be attributed (at least in part) to the expansion of the franchise to 18 year olds (previously restricted to those 21 and older). The total number of voters grew, but so did the pool of eligible voters- so total percentage fell.
See also
- United States presidential primary
- United States presidential nominating convention
- United States presidential election debates
- List of United States presidential elections by Electoral College closeness
- American election campaigns in the 19th Century
External links
- The American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara: 52,000+ Presidential Documents)
- Over 3000 Links on the Presidential Election
- Electoral College Box Scores
- Teaching about Presidential Elections
- All the maps since 1840 by counties (French language site)
- Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
- A history of the presidency from the point of view of Vermont Discusses history of American presidential elections with two states as opposite "poles", Vermont, and Alabama
- * A game where you can make choices and be elected President
United States presidential elections
Präsidentschaftswahl (Vereinigte Staaten) | Usona Prezidenta Elekta Sistemo | Élection présidentielle aux États-Unis d'Amérique | Elezioni Presidenziali degli Stati Uniti d'America | アメリカ合衆国大統領選挙 | Presidentvalg (USA) | Wybory prezydenckie w USA (wyniki) | Prezidentské voľby v USA
"United States presidential election"